Death due to an idiotic drunk driver is a horrible way to die. We all know that. And yet, statistics show that approximately 13,000 people die a year because of drunk drivers.
Everyone knows how easily these things happen. The designated driver is found puking up vodka in a toilet, so someone else volunteers to drive the rowdy group home, claiming they’ve only had a beer or two. Next thing you know their body is flying through the windshield.
According to a Nov. 20 article in the New York Times, the law may be changing sooner than we’d imagined. A group called Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), a group that is supported by a national association of state highway officials and car manufacturers, will announce on Monday a new campaign to change the law in 49 states.
The new law will require offenders to install a device that tests drivers and shuts down the car if it detects alcohol. Wow, talk about being spied on in your car. That seems a bit intrusive. But then again, these are people who’ve been convicted before.
According to the article, many states already require the devices, known as ignition interlocks, for people who have been convicted multiple times. Last year, New Mexico became the first state to make them mandatory after one offense. With this tactic and others, the state had an 11.3 percent drop in alcohol-related fatalities last year.
Although the device may appear to be foolproof, it has its faults. The most obvious of them being that any sober person in the vehicle could blow into the Breathalyzer tube, thus confusing the machine.
Officials say interlocks for first offenders are not cure-all solutions, but it will reduce repeat offenses. They say, “the next step will be a program to develop devices to unobtrusively test every driver for alcohol and disable the vehicle. The automaker Saab and a medical equipment company already have devices that may be adapted for that job.”
Christopher J. Murphy, the chairman of the Governors Highway Safety Association, said “the typical penalty, revoking a drunken driver’s license, did not work because offenders continued to drive anyway. California alone has about 1 million people driving with suspended or revoked licenses.” Murphy supports unobtrusive alcohol sensing in all cars. “When 40 percent of all our crashes are alcohol-involved,” he said, “I don’t think it’s going to be that difficult of a sell.”
According to the article, a New Mexico company, TruTouch Technologies, Inc., is creating a technique that shines a light through the skin on the forearm and analyzes what bounces back. (This was originally used for measuring blood chemistry in diabetics, but will now measures alcohol levels.)
Jim McNally, the chief executive of TruTouch, said “Future devices may read alcohol content when a driver’s palm touches the steering wheel or the gear shift lever.”
It is ridiculous that drunk driving has become so pertinent that cars are now forced to monitor our every move. Why can’t people just use common sense and intuitive rationale? It would save thousands of lives, not to mention millions of dollars our government is paying for these new technologies. This should be a lesson to all of us: if you drink and drive, the consequences are never ending. Next time, just catch a cab.
