Patricia Voelker knows the pain of driving under the influence deaths.

The Lexington grandmother became a Mothers Against Drunk Driving volunteer after a drunk driver in Florida killed her son-in-law and 3 adult grandsons.

“You get drunk, you drive home, you make it,” she told Emily Scarlett of WIS-TV.

“So, you say, ‘I can drive drunk,’ and the next time you get drunk and you drive somewhere and you make it, you say, ‘See, it’s no big deal,’ and then the next time you get drunk and you drive and you hit somebody.

“Or, you crash your own car. Or you kill your girlfriend who’s sitting next to you. Or you kill a child in the car ahead of you because you couldn’t stop fast enough and you rear-ended them because you convinced yourself – by ... getting away with it – that you’re just fine,” Voelker said.

Statistics show the average drinker drove drunk 80 times before the 1st arrest.

Voelker, other volunteers and Gov. Henry McMaster want state lawmakers to pass Senate Bill 18 to make DUI laws harsher.

If passed, all 1st-time DUI offenders must have ignition interlocks on their vehicles.

The device is about the size of a cell phone and is wired into the ignition.

Convicted drunk drivers have to blow into the device to start their vehicle. If they have alcohol in their system, the vehicle won’t start.

Advocates say it’s an inexpensive way to ensure offenders can’t drive drunk.

The interlocks have prevented 8,725 attempts to drive drunk in the past 12 years in South Carolina. In 2018, interlocks blocked 1,743 drunk drivers.

“Way too many DUI deaths are caused by somebody who has already had repeated DUIs,” Voelker said.

“If the first time that happened, you had to have an Ignition Interlock System installed in your car, that’s going to at least slow you down. It’s going to hopefully put you in a position where you can’t get drunk and drive.”