Yes. I could finally start a failed interlock story blog.
A problem with devices of that type is that they only test for a potential source of inability to drive safely. What we want is to test for an inability to drive safely.
And while one is easy and might give some quick wins, the drawbacks scare me too much.
Actually getting in the car while under the influence such of stress and alcohol sounds worse.
I know someone who had a glass of wine just before her daughter needed to be brought to the hospital. This was just two days ago. She simply concluded she could not drive. Luckily, she was able to get a taxi.
I'm sure that would save a lot of lives. An ambulatory medical service, if you will.
I once dislocated my shoulder while on a large trampoline and was unable to get up from my hands and knees due to the intense pain whenever the trampoline wobbled. The ambulance was redirected to more serious injuries three times. I was stuck in that position waiting for two hours before it arrived.
In that scenario it would also be appropriate to wait for a driver to sober up before driving you to the hospital if neither ambulance nor taxi were available (or delayed). One glass of wine would be out of most people's systems after two hours.
Thus poking hole in the "drunk drive someone to the hospital" argument, which is what this was all about in the first place.
In my previous comment I just meant that sometimes ambulances can take a good while and a taxi might not.
In the unfortunate case of the trampoline there were several sober people with driver's license and cars available and a taxi would have been there immediately.
Unfortunately,they failed to get me out of there, meaning I still had to wait until an ambulance was available. It was beyond painful and exhausting both physically and mentally. But it was still technically not an emergency.
While your friend made a call judging their own abilities and the level of emergency, that's exactly how it should be: cars should not stop us humans for making that decision.
(Fwiw, if you were just having an alcoholic drink, a breathalizer would show a much higher concentration even though alcohol might not have even kicked in or there wasn't enough for it to kivk in at all)