Location: Florida
So in January my girlfriend’s mother received a DUI. I don’t know all of the details, but I do know that she has entered the Driver Enhanced Treatment Education Rehabilitation (DETER) program, which involves installing an ignition interlock device (iid) in her vehicle for 3 months, with the intent of dropping the DUI charge to reckless driving. As far as I can tell, this program only exists in the Manatee/Sarasota area. There is no indication on her license that she is required to drive a vehicle with an iid installed and the DETER program seems to be a volunteer program to reduce her sentence, and not directly court ordered.
Now, I know that if you lend a vehicle to someone with a suspended or restricted license, you can run the risk of getting charged as an accomplice. My question is, if we were to lend her one of our vehicles, just to make her life easier, and she gets pulled over while driving, would we be liable for any wrongdoing? I’m sure that getting caught would ruin her DETER program and that she would get slapped with the full DUI charge, but would it have any effect on us as well? We are planning on leaving the state at the end of the month and would rather avoid any legal difficulties.
Also, less important but if anybody has any indication of when in the process of getting caught that it might show that she violated her DETER program rules, that would be appreciated. Sources for any info would also be appreciated, but again that is secondary.
Edit: don’t know if it is relevant, but we all live in the same house. “Lending” her the car would just involve handing her the keys, which she would give back upon returning from whatever errand she was on.
Edit2: so, I actually already told her no, that she couldn’t borrow our vehicles, on the grounds that I didn’t want to be an accomplice if she got caught. She really didn’t like that and it has caused some drama. I’m really just looking for answers to either back me up or prove me wrong.
Comments
Why would you lend her a car? Is the intent to get around the interlock device? Are you contributing to her continuing to drink and drive?
Yeah if she gets caught driving without it she has very little chance of getting this dropped and back to full penalties of DUI. Whether you face criminal penalties for aiding this scheme is questionable, especially with how she’s caught.
This is a big fat no legal wise.
Order of importance:
Car (insurance, your record)
Girlfriend
Girlfriend’s DUI mother