news US NHTSA mandating touch-based blood alcohol sensors in future vehicle sales

[Vermillion]

Quote

 […] By releasing what's called an "advance notice of proposed rulemaking" Tuesday, the agency is able to start drafting a new safety standard that would equip all cars with drunk and impaired driving prevention tools “when the technology is mature.”

 

The proposal explains the agency is involved in "cutting-edge" research with 16 automakers meant to develop a technology that could detect a driver's blood alcohol content without forcing him or her to actually blow into a sensor, which is how vehicle breath tests work now.

 

The NHTSA said progress has been made on systems that would detect alcohol content via breath or touch-based sensors: the touch sensor measures the BAC in the capillary blood in the dermis layer of the skin and the breath sensor would measure the concentrations of alcohol and carbon dioxide in a driver's exhale.

 

The rulemaking document also says the agency is interested in learning more about technology to help detect two additional impairment states: drowsy driving and distracted driving—drugged driving is not within the scope of Tuesday's announcement because the technology and testing capabilities are "are not mature enough" to consider. Forbes

 

[scenekiller]

Good. People have shown time and time again they can't be trusted to make the right choice when it comes to drunk driving or not.

[LustSpell]

Good decision

[Jotham]

Oh wow I didn't know this technology was possible.  This is good though.

[ScorpiosGroove]

a good thing in theory but also a bad precedent 

[XIAN]

driving is a privilege not a right

[Virgos Groove]

[Bloo]

Adequate public transit is a good way to combat drunk driving. 

[Gov Hooka]

Just build more trains and trams…

[DAP]

You can also mitigate drunk driving by making cities less auto-centric and not force everyone to drive.

[GhostBox]

This is a good step.