"I never thought it would me."

Kekai Seabury fights back tears remembering the day his father was killed in a head-on collision in 2003. He believes the driver of the other car was drunk before he fell asleep at the wheel even though a test done hours later found no alcohol in his system. But since then Seabury has been a strong advocate for a bill Govenor Linda Lingle signed into law Friday. It paves the way for a device called an ignition interlock to be installed in cars so that DUI offenders will have to blow into the device before the car will start.
It won't start if the driver's blood alcohol content is above the pre-set level of 0.02.

The locking device will be mandatory for first-time offenders who have a blood alcohol level of 0.15 or higher. It's also mandatory for repeat offenders.

Hawaii has one of the highest rates of DUI related deaths. The count last year was 69. With Friday's signing, Hawaii joins 45 other states with a similar law.

Leah Marx of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Hawaii says it's been working in other states and is positive it'll work in hawaii.

"New Mexico is one of the lead states right now that's been doing this," said Marx. "They've seen a decrease in the number of deaths as well as their number of repeat offenders."

A task force will look into refining the law, such as how to apply it to motorcycles and how to reat drivers under 18 years of age.

The devices won't be used until July 2010. 

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