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Senator Wants Drunk Drivers to Wear Ankle Bracelet Booze Monitors

SCRAM bracelet
Image courtesy SCRAM
Senator Jane Nelson filed legislation that would put alcohol monitors in use across Texas for DUI offenders.

State Senator Jane Nelson filed this bill last month that would require some drunk driving offenders to wear alcoholic monitoring anklets, like the one actress Lindsey Lohan had to wear earlier this year.

The devices are already used widely across Texas, according to a July report from the Dallas Morning News, which says more than 500 courts have adopted alcohol monitoring anklets.

Judge Tracy Holmes, who runs a specialty DWI court in Dallas, said SCRAM is "one more tool" but "certainly not the silver bullet."

KVUE reported last winter that 100 such devices are already worn by offenders in Travis County.

Texas is currently the leading state to incorporate SCRAM into sentencing. Of the 11,000 offenders currently wearing SCRAM in the nation, 1,500 are in Texas.

Here's a video from the makers of the Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor (SCRAM) explaining how they work.

Nathan Bernier is the transportation reporter at KUT. He covers the big projects that are reshaping how we get around Austin, like the I-35 overhaul, the airport's rapid growth and the multibillion dollar transit expansion Project Connect. He also focuses on the daily changes that affect how we walk, bike and drive around the city. Got a tip? Email him at nbernier@kut.org. Follow him on Twitter @KUTnathan.