NPR reported earlier this week that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced on Tuesday that automakers are taking the first steps to add technology to new vehicles to prevent intoxicated drivers from getting behind the wheel.
The federal agency announced that the measure would fulfill a requirement in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed by the 117th Congress last year. The measure would go toward ending a problem that kills thousands of people every year.
Still in its preliminary stages, the proposed rule would help federal regulators create new federal safety standards.
Some of the more recent technologies include breath, touch, eye movement sensors, and cameras, which would be able to detect whether or not someone who gets behind the wheel is intoxicated.
“Impaired driving crashes are 100% preventable,” said Ann Carlson, acting director of the NHTSA. “There is simply no excuse for drive impaired by alcohol or drugs.”
“This is about saving human beings from the horror I’ve experienced and from the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands of Americans,” Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD.) President Tess Rowland told NPR’s Joe Hernandez. “We must get this done. Lives are at stake.”
Auto industry trade group Alliance for Automotive Innovation said in a statement that automakers are constantly working to make vehicles safer and smarter and are reviewing the proposed changes to federal safety regulations.
