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It's discouraging, to say the least, when as a state we try to do everything possible to get drunken drivers off the highways and byways, yet the DUI statistics continue to be dismal and alarming.

But that cannot dissuade lawmakers and law enforcement personnel from trying to find new ways to deal with drinking drivers. Until they are totally removed from the roads, the problems they create will continue.

One of latest attempts at reducing DUI drivers came out of this year's legislative session in the form of House Bill 3254. It creates a special ignition interlock driver's license that allows a person to drive while his or her regular license is suspended because of a DUI charge. Essentially, it allows a person to drive legally -- to school, work, etc. -- while awaiting disposition of their case. The kicker: the required installation of an interlock device.

The device requires a driver to blow into it and pass a blood-alcohol measurement before the vehicle will start. Re-tests while the vehicle is running are periodically required after that.

State law already requires first-time offenders to use the device for a year after being convicted, with increased terms for subsequent convictions. That stays the same under the new law.

The idea is to use the interlock device to discourage the temptation to drive with suspended or temporarily restricted licenses while drinking. With the special license, you can legally drive, but only in conjunction with the interlock device.

State Rep. Roger Goodman, a Kirkland Democrat and prime sponsor of the new law, cites statistics from New Mexico, the model for his proposal, to back up his hope that the new program could save 100 lives per year statewide, based on 2006 traffic deaths in this state.

Twenty-six people died in alcohol-related crashes in Yakima County that year. Slightly more than 600 died across the state.

Certainly it's worth a try to get at that deadly combination of drinking and driving. Still, the most effective way to deal with DUI remains changing societal attitudes to embrace voluntary elimination of the combination.

Technology is great and should be utilized in conjunction with law enforcement crackdowns. But in the final analysis, it's only a tool and by itself is no panacea to deal with this festering problem.

Ideally, that problem will be dealt with most effectively when people wise up and quit drinking and driving.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Sarah Jenkins, Bill Lee and Karen Troianello.