The Legislature is on the verge of giving the justice system an important new tool against drunken driving.

Senators should take care to make sure the ignition interlock bill introduced by Sen. Tony Fulton of Lincoln doesn’t get lost in the end-of-session shuffle.

Fulton’s bill, LB736, is patterned after laws that have proven amazingly successful in other states.

When an ignition interlock is installed, a driver must blow into the device before the car will start. If the driver has alcohol on his or her breath, the car won’t start.

New Mexico was the first state to require ignition interlocks for all convicted drunken drivers, including first offenders. The impact was dramatic. The rate of drunken-driving fatalities is down by 20 percent.

Ironically, one of the cases cited in support of the proposed law in New Mexico was a tragic crash in which four Nebraskans were killed in a collision with a drunken driver going the wrong direction on a freeway.

Surviving relatives of Larry and Rita Beller of Lindsay and Alice and Edward “Bud” Ramaekers of Norfolk were among those speaking in support of Fulton’s bill earlier this year in Lincoln.

“With the passage of this bill into law, lives will be spared and the heartache of many will be silent,” Jerry Beller said.

Until states began adopting ignition interlock laws, traffic safety officials had been frustrated with lack of progress in reducing drunken driving. Drunken-driving crashes account for about 40 percent of highway fatalities.

But in New Mexico, people convicted of a first offense of drunken driving were 60 percent less likely to repeat the offense when they had interlock devices installed in their cars.

It has become glaringly obvious that taking away their licenses does not adequately deter drivers from getting behind the wheel after drinking.

In Nebraska, about 26 percent of traffic deaths involve a driver with a blood alcohol content above 0.08 percent.

Mandatory ignition interlock laws are supported by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Nebraska Highway Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Fulton deserves credit for shepherding the bill through the legislative maze in his second session since he was named to replace Sen. Mike Foley.

Passage of the law would put Nebraska among the nation’s leaders in taking advantage of ignition interlock technology. Currently, only four other states require interlock devices for all those convicted of drunken driving.

The bill breezed to approval on a second-round vote earlier this week. All that’s left is for senators to remember to finish the job and for the governor to sign it into law.