The amendment to N.J.S.A. 39:4-50(a)(3) was signed into law by Governor Murphy on April 3, 2025, and it states that:
Any person who is required to forfeit the right to operate a motor vehicle over the
highways of this State pursuant to this section may, in lieu of forfeiting the right to
operate a motor vehicle, install an ignition interlock device and receive a one day credit
against the period that the person is required to forfeit the right to operate a motor vehicle
over the highways of this State pursuant to this section for every two days that the person
has the ignition interlock device installed. A person shall not be entitled to this credit if
the violation of this section resulted in serious bodily injury as defined in N.J.S.A. 2C:
11-1 to another person. In addition, a person who has been arrested or convicted of
operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of a narcotic, hallucinogenic, or
habit-producing drug or permitting another person who is under the influence of a
narcotic, hallucinogenic, or habit-producing drug to operate a motor vehicle owned by the
person or under the person’s custody or control pursuant to the provisions of this section
or a person who has been convicted of operating a commercial motor vehicle under the
influence of a controlled substance pursuant to section 5 of P.L.1990, c.103 (C.
39:3-10.13) shall not be eligible for this credit.
N.J.S.A. 39:4-50(i)(2)
This act shall take effect immediately, shall apply to any offense occurring on or after the
effective date, and shall expire on January 1, 2029.
As interpreted and now accepted by Municipal Courts, a license suspension for an alcohol based DWI can be avoided (does not apply to a CDL) by installing an interlock device in your car, receiving 1 day credit towards a suspension for every two days the device is installed in your vehicle, provided the DWI incident did not cause serious bodily injury.