Cruising without boozing

Blow-First equipment measures drivers' blood alcohol content

EPHRATA — Some people aren't exactly happy to see the Willmorths at first.

Kelly and her husband of five years, Gene, are the owners of Blow-First, which installs and monitors ignition interlock devices for people who get DWIs.

The devices are either court-ordered, or ordered by the Department of Licensing that the driver has to have a device in their car before they can get back their license.

"Generally, when we get a customer, they need us," Kelly Willmorth said. For the most part, people just want to get the device installed and be on their way, but some are angry and don't feel that they should have to have a device, she said.

"Those people we find we have the most problems with — and they have the most problems with — the machines," she said, likening the situation to working with a computer in a bad mood. "You're getting madder and madder. What we have found is when you go into it with a negative attitude, you're going to have negative issues with the machines."

But even if things start off less than positive, Willmorth said, they usually end up well, and the 4-year-old business has not had a repeat customer, to date. The Willmorths try to keep things on a personal level, and tell their customers that they've been there, too.

The Willmorths got involved with the business because they had DWIs themselves. Gene had to have a device, a different machine, and needed to put it in another car when his broke down. When he called, another company was on vacation, and he was stuck.

"I was upset because I'd been driving him around for six months, and I was sick of driving him around," Kelly remembered. "He had a machine, and he was free, and I was free. I thought, 'Well, this is bogus. There needs to be another company in town. Someone shouldn't have to wait two weeks.'"

Willmorth got online and was talking with the company that provided them with devices within two hours. They began with 10 devices, and presently have approximately 70 machines.

Kelly got her DWI after beginning the business, with one of the machines in the car, because the device had not been calibrated and was reading zeroes on her breath.

To use the devices, in order to start the car, a person has to pass a test and blow. 025 or below on the device, which measures a person's blood alcohol content. After passing and driving the car, the device will ask for a test called a "random rolling," to check that the person is not drinking and driving.

Drivers have about five to 10 minutes before the first random rolling takes place, and there are about three minutes to take the test, meaning it's possible to pull over to a safe location, Willmorth said. Again, the person blows into the device.

If someone fails a random rolling, Willmorth said, they are asked to take another test so that she can read on the computer scanner to see if they pass or fail. But they are in lockout because they failed the test. On the Blow-First devices, there is a five-day countdown to lockout, so there's five days for the person to get back to Willmorth before the car locks itself out.

"A lot of people think these machines will lock you out in the middle of a highway," she said. "They don't."

While inconspicuous, the machines are sensitive; one customer called complaining that she could not start her car and had not been drinking. Kelly asked some questions and determined that the customer had a kerosene log in the car. She instructed the customer to pull out the log, air out the car for five minutes and try again. Save for her two-month calibration, Kelly never heard from that customer again; that's why the Willmorths stress that their customers should call them first if they have a problem.

Willmorth said that Blow-First's role is to act as monitor, and not so much to ensure that people are not drinking and driving.

"If they fail a random rolling, it's not going to lock you out," she said. "In the state of Washington, you're in a lock-out period for the machine."

Willmorth said business has remained steady. The company covers Grant, Douglas, Okanogan and Chelan counties, essentially anywhere an hour and a half away, she said. They will arrange to meet people that far away if possible, so they don't have to drive down to Blow-First in Ephrata, Kelly said. Installation usually takes about an hour, Willmorth said.

By law, customers using the devices have to either come to Blow-First, located at the Willmorths' Ephrata home, or the Willmorths have to see them, every two months in order to calibrate the devices.

"The nice thing about the unit is it makes you think before you drink," she said. "You have to go, 'Well, if I'm going to go out tonight, I can't drink at the house before I leave because I won't be able to start my car. Then you're thinking, 'If I'm going to go out and drink, then I'm not going to be able to bring my car home."

That's the reason the Willmorths like what they are doing. Kelly said it has totally changed the couple's drinking habits and patterns.

"In this state, you really can't drink and get behind the car," she said. "You can have two drinks, leave the bar and go and blow in that machine, and you could go and blow an .010, and a cop's going to go, 'You're drunk.' Maybe you've only had two drinks, it's not all the way in your blood system, but it's sitting in your mouth, and the machine's going to register that stuff."

The Willmorths have even had parties where they invite guests to use the device and see how drunk they are.

Kelly said with a chuckle that she's always thought the device would be helpful for young adults who get in trouble.

"Their parents could just slap one of these babies in their car and go, 'OK, I'll make sure my kid's not drinking and driving," she said, noting that for any entity that would like a demonstration, Blow-First is open and willing to show how the devices work.

"We've learned there's just no drinking and getting into our car," she said. "We just don't do it anymore." On a recent evening, the Willmorths walked to dinner and back home again. "That's what you have to do if you want to have a few beers, and be safe."