New Hi-Tech Weapon Against Drunk Driving

Last month, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood took a firsthand look at what could be an important technological advance in the fight to stop car accidents, as well as the many tragic wrongful deaths and cases of personal injury, that result from drunk driving.

QinetiQ North America, a research and development company located in Watham, Massachusetts, held the first public demonstration of its new technology, The Driver Alcohol Detection Systems for Safety (DADSS for short), which employs automatic sensors that instantly gauge a driver's fitness to take the wheel. The new devices have the potential to save thousands of lives.

The most commonplace devices used today are the ignition interlock systems that require drivers to blow into a breath-tasting device before the car will start. These systems are often mandated by judges for convicted drunk drivers. However, ignition interlock systems are very intrusive to the everyday driver and would never gain widespread acceptance for usage in all vehicles.

The DADSS, in contrast, is a passive technology system that measures blood alcohol content through two ways - either by analyzing the driver's breath, or through the skin using special touch-based sensors that are placed either on steering wheels or door locks.

The analysis is done without the driver having to take any extra steps. Thus, a sober driver can go on his way without even thinking about the device doing its job; the device, however, would stop that same driver from operating a vehicle if, on a certain occasion, he or she happened to be inebriated.

LaHood called the technology "another arrow in our automotive safety quiver," although the company behind it estimates that it would not be available to the general public for another eight to ten years.

The head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), David Strickland, also attended the DADSS demonstration. He predicted the new hi-tech systems could prevent as many as 9,000 fatal alcohol-related car accidents a year in America. The DADSS is the result of an exploratory $10 million research effort, funded by the NHTSA and the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety.

It's estimated that over 10,000 wrongful deaths will occur this year as a result of car accidents caused by alcohol. It's also estimated that a motorist arrested for driving drunk has done it before an average of 87 times prior to the police pulling him or her over. Also, one in three of all drivers will be involved in an alcohol-related car accident at some point in their lives.


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