With over 30% of all fatal crashes involving a drunk driver or pedestrian, and about 10,000 people getting killed in alcohol-related crashes each year, drunk driving is a very serious threat to public safety in the United States. On top of that, costs associated with drunk driving accidents are estimated at $200 billion a year, which means that this is an issue that has a major impact on the nation’s economy. In an effort to put an end to drunk driving, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has started working on a system that is supposed to detect drivers under the influence of alcohol and prevent them from operating a motor vehicle.
The system is called Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS), and it is being developed by the NHTSA in collaboration with the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS), which represents 17 car makers. The alcohol detection system employs two different technologies to determine the driver’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level, one of which involves a sensor installed in the car’s steering column, and the other uses infrared technology.
The first prototype uses a sensor to measure the driver’s BAC level through his/her breath, similarly to the way breathalyzers work. The second method involves near-infrared tissue spectroscopy, as it shines a beam of light on the driver’s finger to determine the amount of alcohol in his/her bloodstream by analyzing his/her tissue.
Both systems can determine how much alcohol there is in the driver’s bloodstream in under a second. If a BAC of .08%, which is the legal limit, or higher is detected, the car will not start. It can also be adjusted to prevent the car from starting if it detects a BAC level of over 0% for underage drivers.
The NHTSA says that both systems will be installed in research vehicles so that they can be analyzed and so that it can be determined how the technologies work in a vehicle environment. This research phase is supposed to be completed by 2016.
“There is still a great deal of work to do, but support from Congress and industry has helped us achieve key research and development milestones. DADSS has enormous potential to prevent drunk driving in specific populations such as teen drivers and commercial fleets, and making it an option available to vehicle owners would provide a powerful new tool in the battle against drunk driving deaths,” said NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind.