Technology To Detect Drunk Drivers May Soon Hit The Highways

While still in its development stages, a British-based technology company is crafting in its Waltham, Mass. operations a safety device to prevent alcohol-impaired drivers from operating their vehicles while under the influence.

Qineti's Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) consists of two sensors. The first sensor measures breath alcohol content by analyzing the driver. Meanwhile, the second sensor measures the blood alcohol content level just by skin contact. The second sensor would be placed on the steering wheel and the car door lock.

Officials at the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration said the technology could be voluntarily installed as an option for new vehicles.  The next stage of development, which would include practical demonstrations of one or more of the alcohol detection technologies, could begin later this year.

"What we're doing is developing technology that won't interfere with sober drivers, will require virtually no maintenance or upkeep and will have such precision that it only stops a driver when their blood alcohol content is .08 BAC or higher, which is the illegal limit for drunk driving in every state," said Shane Karr, vice president of Federal Government Affairs at the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. 

"Now that we have actual prototypes, a tremendous feat in itself, we'll be working to identify the gaps in performance between these prototypes and the precise standards we've identified as true technology requirements," Karr said.  "This will point the way forward for the next phase of research."

Karr was recently with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator David Strickland and Laura Dean Mooney, national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Waltham to witness a demonstration of the DADDS technology. 

"Auto makers have stepped up to help turn cars into the cure,'' Mooney said. ``This project has made substantial progress and this technology could one day be an important step in our efforts to eliminate drunk driving." 

DADSS is being developed under a five-year, $10 million cooperative initiative between the NHTSA and the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety, an industry representing most of the world's automakers. 

``Whatever the future holds for these advanced drunk driving prevention technologies, one thing remains clear," Strickland said. ``No technology can, or should ever replace a driver's personal responsibility not to drive drunk." 

The NHTSA reported that,  in 2009, 10,839 people died nationwide in crashes involving a drunk driver. These deaths make up 32 percent of all fatal traffic accidents.