Last week I talked about my voluntary experience with the ignition interlock device, which is given to first-time offenders of driving under the influence.

I had it uninstalled on Monday, and it felt liberating. That’s only because blowing and humming into the device as required is a difficult and humiliating experience. I’m not the only one who feels that way.

One man who called me said it took him two hours to leave somewhere because it took him that long to blow into the device.

A woman on the mainland wrote me, saying that she went to the dentist and had her mouth numb for the work. Afterward she couldn’t start her car because her lips wouldn’t seal around the thing.

It’s a testament to how effective the device can be. When I tried to let another person try it, he kept failing it.

If offenders allow somebody else to blow into the device successfully, they could start the car, but they’d face serious penalties because they have to report back to Smart Start, the local vendor who will upload the camera and blood-alcohol content information into its servers.

Smart Start would then file a report with the state, who would determine whether there were any violations. However, due to the economic realities of the state, it’s the Department of Transportation, not the Judiciary, that oversees the reports. Most other states have probation officers assigned to each offender.

It’s something MADD Hawaii fought for as the law was being written in the past few years, says its founder, Carol McNamee, and they’ll continue to lobby for it.

“If you could get a probation officer to monitor these guys, the effectiveness of the program would quadruple,” says Smart Start Operations Director Abram Garcia. “They’re not going to be as strictly enforced without having someone monitor these reports as quickly as a probation officer would.”

MADD Hawaii would also like to see repeat offenders have the device installed on their cars, even though by law now they lose their plates and vehicle registration and so are not supposed to drive.

McNamee says it’s been a struggle working with lawmakers to amend the law. Two bills at the Legislature have failed to pass, she says.

“It’s been very messy this year,” she says.

The program already is an effective behavior modifier. I can attest to that. But it’s clear that more work needs to be done.

The consequences of drunken driving are sobering, and lawmakers should work without delay to strengthen the law and iron out its kinks.

Gene Park can be reached at gpark@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @GenePark.