The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced it has taken the first step in requiring that anti-drunk driving technology be installed in all new passenger vehicles to curb drunk-driving crashes.
The NHTSA issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Dec. 12, which it said will lay the groundwork for making “potential alcohol-impairment detection technology” standards in all new vehicles.
It sought to fulfill the bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which requires a technology safety standard to be established by November 2024. In 2021, Congress directed the NHTSA to mandate a passive technology to try to avert more than 10,000 road deaths annually.
More than 13,380 people were killed in drunk-driving crashes in 2021, costing society $280 billion in lost wages, lost quality of life, medical expenses, and more, according to the agency.
“It is tragic that drunk-driving crashes are one of the leading causes of roadway fatalities in this country and far too many lives are lost,” Polly Trottenberg, deputy secretary of the Department of Transportation, said in a statement.
“The Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking we are announcing today is the first step toward a new safety standard requiring alcohol-impaired-driving prevention technology in new passenger vehicles.”
The regulatory notice will help the NHTSA gather information on how to deploy technology safely and effectively, as well as information that will support the agency’s research and technology advances, according to the statement.
There are a number of potential technologies under development that would prevent impaired people from starting a vehicle, including breath- or touch-based sensors to detect alcohol. Another potential option is using cameras to monitor eye movements to check if drivers are intoxicated.
However, the U.S. regulator must first ensure that the technology works before it can start mandating it and then provide automakers with a minimum of three years to install it after finalizing the guidelines.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), a nonprofit organization, has expressed its support for NHTSA’s move and urged the agency to finalize and implement the rules “the earliest possible.”
“Everyone involved in this rulemaking process at NHTSA and everyone designing impaired-driving prevention technologies at car companies need to understand that this is about saving human beings from the horror I’ve experienced and from the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands of Americans,” MADD National President Tess Rowland said in a statement.
“We must get this done. Lives are at stake.”
According to MADD, drunk-driving deaths in the United States have risen by 35 percent in the past decade and 14 percent in the past two years, exceeding 13,000 deaths for the first time since 2007.
