In future, cars might decide if driver is drunk
An alcohol-detection prototype that uses automatic sensors to
instantly gauge a driver’s fitness to be on the road has the potential
to save thousands of lives, but could be as long as a decade away from
everyday use in cars, federal officials and researchers say.
The Driver Alcohol Detection Systems for Safety, as the new
approach is called, would use sensors that would measure blood
alcohol content in one of two possible ways: either by analyzing
a driver’s breath or through the skin, using sophisticated
touch-based sensors placed strategically on steering wheels and
door locks, for example. – Photo by two hundred percent/Wikimedia
Commons |
US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood last week visited QinetiQ
North America, a Waltham, Massachusetts-based research and development
facility, for the first public demonstration of systems that could
measure whether a motorist has a blood alcohol content at or above the
legal limit of .08 and – if so – prevent the vehicle from starting.
The technology is being designed as unobtrusive, unlike current
alcohol ignition interlock systems often mandated by judges for
convicted drunken drivers.
Those require operators to blow into a breath-testing device before
the car can operate.
The Driver Alcohol Detection Systems for Safety, as the new approach
is called, would use sensors that would measure blood alcohol content in
one of two possible ways: either by analyzing a driver’s breath or
through the skin, using sophisticated touch-based sensors placed
strategically on steering wheels and door locks, for example.
Both methods eliminate the need for drivers to take any extra steps,
and those who are sober would not be delayed in getting on the road,
researchers said.
The technology is “another arrow in our automotive safety quiver,”
said LaHood, who emphasized the system was envisioned as optional
equipment in future cars and voluntary for auto manufacturers.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Head David Strickland
also attended the demonstration and estimated the technology could
prevent as many as 9,000 fatal alcohol-related crashes a year in the US,
though he also acknowledged that it was still in its early testing
stages and might not be commercially available for 8-10 years.
The systems would not be employed unless they are “seamless,
unobtrusive and unfailingly accurate,” Strickland said.
The initial $10 million research program is funded jointly by NHTSA
and the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety, an industry group
representing many of the world’s car makers.
Critics, such as Sarah Longwell of the American Beverage Institute, a
restaurant trade association, doubt if the technology could ever be
perfected to the point that it would be fully reliable and not stop some
completely sober people from driving.
“Even if the technology is 99.9 percent reliable, that’s still tens
of thousands of cars that won’t start every day,” said Longwell. Her
group also questions whether an .08 limit would actually be high enough
to stop all drunken drivers, since blood alcohol content can rise in
people during a trip depending on factors such as how recently they
drank and how much they ate.
“It’s going to eliminate the ability of people to have a glass of
wine with dinner or a beer at a ball game and then drive home, something
that is perfectly safe and currently legal in all 50 states,” she said.
LaHood disputed that the technology would interfere with moderate
social drinking, and said the threshold in cars would never be set below
the legal limit.
In a recent demonstration, a woman in her 20s weighing about 120
pounds (54 kilograms) drank two, 1 1/2 ounce (about 40 grams) glasses of
vodka and orange juice about 30 minutes apart, eating some cheese and
crackers in between to simulate a typical social setting, said Bud Zaouk,
director of transportation safety and security for QinetiQ.
Using both the touch-based and breath-based prototypes, the woman
registered a .06 blood alcohol content, Zaouk said, so she would be able
to start the car.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving President Laura Dean Mooney said the
technology could “turn cars into the cure.”
While she did not foresee the alcohol detection system ever being
mandated by the Government, Mooney, whose husband died in an accident
caused by a drunken driver 19 years ago, said she could envision it
someday becoming as ubiquitous as air bags or anti-lock brakes in
today’s cars, particularly if insurance companies provide incentives for
drivers to use those systems by discounting premiums.
AP
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