Feds Push New Alcohol Detection Technologies in Vehicles

WASHINGTON — Saying that it has arrived at “a new frontier in the fight against drunk driving,” the U.S. Department of Transportation on Friday outlined plans for new alcohol-detection technologies in vehicles. It said the goal is to integrate such technologies into vehicles in 8-10 years.

The new Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety includes a touch-based system called “tissue spectrometry” that senses blood-alcohol concentration. A second option is “distant spectrometry” that uses part of the infrared light spectrum to detect alcohol concentration in the driver’s breath. If the system detects that the driver is drunk, the vehicle will be disabled.

“The goal over time is to equip all passenger vehicles in the U.S. with the technology, since without full implementation the benefits will be reduced,” said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in a statement.

The federal government is in the middle of a five-year, $10-million cooperative effort with automakers to develop such technologies. The NHTSA said it will kick off “practical demonstrations of one or more of the alcohol-detection technologies” later this year. The automakers involved in the project include BMW, Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai/Kia, Jaguar/Land Rover, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.

“The [alcohol-detection] technology is not intended to prevent anyone from having a glass of wine or an alcoholic beverage for dinner,” said the NHTSA.

It said the cost per vehicle has not yet been established, but that such technology could be “voluntarily installed as an option for new cars.”

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

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Wyoming Committee Passess DUI Bill

A bill that would close loopholes in Wyoming’s mandatory ignition interlock law passed through a legislative committee this morning.

The legislation is designed to address flaws in the law that may have allowed hundreds of convicted drunken drivers to avoid having the devices installed in their cars.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the bill by a 5-0 vote, according to its sponsor, Sen. Drew Perkins, R-Casper.

The devices prevent drivers from starting their cars if they’ve been drinking. A law passed in 2009 requires them to be installed in the vehicles of first-time offenders convicted of driving with a blood-alcohol concentration of .15 or higher.

However, data from the Wyoming Department of Transportation shows the devices were installed in fewer than 20 percent of the drivers who met that criteria.

A technicality in the law allowed prosecutors and defense attorneys to use the devices as a point of negotiation in plea bargains, according to Perkins. In exchange for a guilty plea, a prosecutor might agree to stipulate that a defendant’s blood-alcohol concentration was below the level where the device becomes mandatory.

The law also mandates the devices for people with multiple drunken driving convictions.

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