Congress Weighs Mandate for Drunk-Driving Warning Systems in Cars
Proponents noted that, while the legal limit is .08 percent, 68 percent of fatal drunk-driving accidents in 2019 involved drivers with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.15 percent or higher.
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As soon as 2026, automakers would be required to equip cars with technology geared toward preventing drunk or impaired driving under a key provision of the trillion-dollar infrastructure package that awaits President Joe Biden’s signature, reports the New York Times. A 2020 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that more than 9,000 people are killed each year in the United States in drunken-driving accidents.
Under the mandate, the safety equipment must “passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired” and “prevent or limit motor vehicle operation if an impairment is detected.” Congress gave the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration three years to issue a final rule for the safety devices, which the bill said would give automakers adequate time to comply with the measure. The type of technology that would be used is far from settled, with Congress stopping short of endorsing ignition lock devices like those that are often required by the courts for drunken-driving offenders and involve a breath test.
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