A long-term transportation funding bill just approved by Congress includes a substantial amount of money for researching alcohol-detection technology that could eventually be standard equipment in all new cars.
Sounds pretty cool, right? We think so here at Malvern…but the bill isn’t without its critics.
The American Beverage Institute stated “Spending lots of taxpayer dollars to develop alcohol-sensing technology that can come as standard equipment in all cars is a misuse of these funds.” It’s worth noting that the funds in questions are substantial – $5 million over two years.
This initiative is just the latest from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. They’ve been working with various automakers since 2008 to develop a technology that can “non-invasively measure a driver’s blood-alcohol content and prevent a vehicle from starting if the driver is legally drunk.”
Better known as the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety – or DADSS – the initiative’s aim isn’t just to cut down on drunk driving, but to end it altogether.
From USA Today, read the full article here.