U.S. auto safety regulators say they have taken the first step toward requiring devices in vehicles that prevent drunk or impaired driving.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced on Tuesday that it is starting the process to put a new federal safety standard in place requiring the technology in all new passenger vehicles.
Such devices were required in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that was passed by Congress in 2021.
The agency says an advance notice of proposed rule making will help it gather information about the state of technology to detect impaired driving. The regulation would set standards for the devices once technology is mature, NHTSA said in a statement.
One item per bill.
This didn’t have bipartisan support. This wasn’t debated. Neither you nor I had any representation whatsoever on this issue, it was proposed by an obscure lobby group and someone tacked it onto something that actually mattered.
Who actually wants to buy a breathalyzer as a required option on a new car?
What, like a breathalyzer in every car?
"technology that would automatically test a driver’s breath for alcohol and stop a vehicle from moving if the driver is impaired. The driver wouldn’t have to blow into a tube, and a sensor would check the driver’s breath.
Another company is working on light technology that could test for blood alcohol in a person’s finger, the group has said."
I like the idea of fewer drunk drivers on the road a great deal, but I’m not sure I’d trust auto companies to handle that kind of data responsibly
No worries, someone will have a workaround before it’s even out. But it’ll make cars more expensive anyway.
🧤
No it’s alcohol sensors on the steering wheel, like the scram bracelet.
It’s about $2 in sensors and the technology is 80 years old. It can wired up as an on/off switch, it doesn’t require telephony
The fact that it hasn’t been done already should be criminal in itself.
I used to work in an office that was next to a beer canning plant. Some days when the weather was just right the car park would reek of alcohol. Going to be interesting for the people currently working there when cars refuse to start under such conditions.
Welp, guess I’ll just have to start smoking crack.
Can a car be disabled by pouring a cup of vodka through the window?
Gonna carry around a spray bottle of booze to prank people.
Or by having a sufficiently drunk passenger?
