NHTSA Calls for Drunk Driving Detection Tech

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says it would recommend technology that detects whether a driver is drunk, noting that “Almost 13,400 people died in US alcohol-related crashes in 2021 alone.”

According to an article by Aarian Marshall in Wired, “The agency is still exploring how best to precisely detect and measure impairment in drivers and would seek multiple rounds of public input before creating any regulations to force automakers to include the feature.”

Regulators noted the plans are in very early stages and pose several questions: “What’s the best way to determine whether someone is drunk or drowsy or distracted, and should the car treat those impairments differently? What should a car do if it determines its driver is drunk? And—critically—is there a way to guarantee that systems will never lock out people who aren’t drunk?” 

James C. Fell, a research scientist with the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, says “Whatever method—or combination of methods—the government chooses, anti-drunk-driving technology that works should reduce the toll of traffic crashes.”