According to today’s Times, car manufacturers, highway safety officials and the group Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) want to require first-time drunk driving offenders to install a device known as an "ignition interlock" in their cars. It’s a gizmo that detects alcohol and, if necessary, immobilizes a wannabe drunk driver’s car.

New Mexico and Maryland already mandate interlocks for first time offenders, and the results have been immediate and impressive. After a year those states saw an 11.3 and 17.8 percent drop in alcohol-related driving deaths.

Those are remarkable stats because the annual drunk-driving fatality rate had been almost immovable for the past ten years, despite ever harsher punishments for driving under the influence.

According to Mark Rosenker, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, “Punishment doesn’t always do it.” The ...