New technology, diverse partnership working to eliminate drunk driving

There is exciting news in the ongoing fight to prevent--and maybe even eliminate--a major threat to the American family: drunk driving.

There has been enormous progress since MADD’s founding 30 years ago. Together, we have cut drunk driving fatalities nearly in half, but we still face the entirely preventable loss of almost 12,000 deaths last year. That's nearly 1/3 of all traffic-related fatalities each year--100% preventable.

Advanced technology to prevent drunk drivers from operating vehicles holds the real potential of eliminating this threat. For nearly three years, our National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and leading automakers, working through the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety, have partnered on an advanced alcohol detection research program called DADSS, Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety.

DADSS is an ambitious undertaking, addressing a broad range of issues while developing a technology to prevent drunk drivers from operating vehicles without disrupting the normal driving that is such an integral part of our everyday lives.

The early phase of the project has focused on identifying technologies that sense a driver's blood alcohol content level in an unobtrusive way, while also being extremely reliable, durable, repeatable, maintenance-free--and relatively inexpensive.

In the first phase of technology development, three companies are developing prototypes to be delivered to project experts in late spring or early summer. The next step will be testing at a lab associated with the Harvard Medical School.

Why is this important? It is estimated that nearly 9,000 lives could be saved by a system that prevents driving by those over the generous legal limit for alcohol.

The key will be public acceptance, and initial surveys are quite promising.

Developing advanced alcohol detection technology through DADSS is one of the major elements of Mothers Against Drunk Driving's Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving (CEDD). DOT is pleased to work with MADD on this activity through NHTSA Administrator David Strickland, who serves as Honorary Chairman of the CEDD.

I encourage you to look for future entries reporting on further progress with this important initiative, or go to www.dadss.org.

Comments

[Milan Zlojutro]

This great news, particularly since there is such a high recidivism rate among drunk drivers. zglobal.org has just been awarded a patent for its system that uses AVI (automatic vehicle identification), AVL (automatic vehicle location), license plate recognition and can even used RFID speed passes to detect if a vehicle with suspended driving privileges, like when a motorist loses his/her license in a drunk driving conviction, is operating on the road. The system detects the vehicle on the road and maps its location, in real time, on officers' mobile data computers and wireless devices. The result is virtual hot pursuit and tactical apprehension of dangerous drivers which lowers collision related fatalities.
It’s a natural tool to enhance DADDS.

[Anna Thayer]

This is awesome but how to we prevent DUI's from Marinara or RX abuse and others?

[Michael E. Bailey]

This is great news for everyone who uses our roads. I hope for some type of technology that will prevent a person who is driving a car from using a cell phone at the same time. But the very real possibility of eliminating drunk driving and all the deaths, injuries, and damage it causes is a tremendous step forward in highway safety that should be moved forward as soon as practicable. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.

[Michael Lowrey]

This all would be great! ... except State legislatures, County governments, Courthouse workers, and local Police departments and unions will all try to block this stuff on "other" grounds. IT GENERATES TO MUCH MUNICIPAL CASH! CUTTING DUIs by even 20% would be fiscally lethal. There are so many types of diminished capacity behind the wheel (IPOD , PHONE, COMPUTER, GPS, INATTENTIVE, TEEN, BAD VISION, ELDERLY, ... the list goes on) ...they account for the other 65% of traffic fatalities. Are you gonna start fining and locking these people up. Their judgement is JUST AS POOR! Breathalyzer technology is cheap, but then the state would make so much less money. MADD is more of a lobby than public service movement.