Top Automakers Take Precautions to Prevent Drunk Driving Accidents

By Aaron Woods

Automakers including GM and Toyota are working on a new government-funded technology that, if approved, would be installed in every new vehicle starting in 2012.

The Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) is currently in development, with minds from some of the largest auto companies collaborating on the project.

Currently, only those who are convicted of driving while under the influence of alcohol are required to have an in-car alcohol detection system, such as a breathalyzer. In order to start the vehicle, the driver must first blow into a breathalyzer. If the reading is good, the engine will start, and the driver is free to roam the streets. However, if a reading suggests the driver may be intoxicated, the engine will not start, and the driver must wait to sober up before taking the vehicle for a spin.

“For people who have had a DUI, [breathalyzers] should be mandatory, and if they can go two to five years without drinking, they can have it removed,” said Drivers Education teacher, Gordon Hinckley.

However, if the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety is implemented, everyone who purchases a vehicle after 2012 would need to prove sobriety before revving their engine, weather they are a convicted drunk driver or not.

Unlike the current in-car detection systems in place for the convicted, the DADSS would read blood alcohol content (BAC) through the skin. When a hand touches the gear shift or steering wheel sensors would pick up the driver’s BAC. If the sensor detects an intoxicating level of alcohol in the drivers body, the engine would not start, just like the in-car breathalyzers used now.

This less-intrusive detection system is being supported by the organization, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), who is in favor of finding and utilizing new technology like DADSS that would help curb the number of drunk drivers that hit the road when intoxicated.

According to their website (www.madd.org), “[We support] the work of cooperative researchers to create voluntary advanced in-vehicle technology that prevents an impaired driver from operating the vehicle, provided the technology is non-intrusive to a sober driver.”

Although not everyone is so apt as MADD to utilize the DADSS, or similar devices for those who haven’t faced conviction.

“I dislike drunk driving just as much as Mothers Against Drunk Driving. But I certainly do object to policies and regulations that impose cost and hassle and arguably, petite tyranny, on people who have done absolutely nothing to warrant it,” said automotive columnist, Eric Peters.

As of now, nothing is certain as far as the future of DADSS is concerned. The technology is still being developed and will have to be passed through by federal legislation before it can be implemented.