HONOLULU -- Hawaii has the highest percentage of traffic deaths involving alcohol in the country at 52 percent. So, state lawmakers want to require people convicted of drunken driving to use a breath-test device that will not allow them to start their car if they have had too much to drink.

Hawaii is behind the rest of the country when it comes to using breath-test enabled devices in vehicles. Forty-six other states either have programs like the proposal in place or they are on the way. Breath-testing devices are already widespread in Europe and Canada.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving Executive Director Leah Marx installed a breath-test device that cuts off her car's ignition if her breath is above the legal alcohol limit.

"We want to stop the people who are driving drunk because they can, and right now, this will actually just prevent them from driving drunk -- that's the bottom line," Marx said.

The device requires a second test within five minutes and a third test within a half hour or so. The second test serves as random checks in case the driver drinks after starting the car.

The state House Transportation Committee held a briefing on the technology from Smart Start Inc., which lawmakers may require for anyone convicted of drunken driving.

Kapolei Rep. Sharon Har was hospitalized last March after a four-time DUI driver crashed into her car.

"This young gentleman who hit me, hit me head-on, and after further investigation, I found that his license had in fact been revoked. But clearly he was driving, and in my mind, administrative revocation is not working," Har said.

The new program would take at least one year to start. So, GOP lawmakers said in the meantime, the state should toughen DUI penalties by doubling license revocation to six months, requiring judges to sentence first-time DUI offenders to community service and at least two days in prison as well as a $1,000 fine.

"When we're talking about changing behaviors, we want to see changing behaviors now, not a year from now," House Republican leader Rep. Lynn Finnegan said.

The devices cost about $150 to install and roughly $75 a month to monitor. The DUI offenders would pay those costs.

The big problem facing officials is determining what government agency would monitor and run the program, and how much it would cost.