Infrastructure package requires new cars to have technology that prevents drunk driving by as soon as 2026 – masslive.com

The $1 trillion infrastructure package that Biden signed on Tuesday not only includes increased funding targeted toward improving auto safety, Congress also created a provision that mandates new cars have a monitoring system aimed to prevent intoxicated drivers from getting behind the wheel.

This technology could roll out in new vehicles as soon as 2026, according to The Associated Press, a timeline meant to give automakers time to adapt while the Transportation Department deicides what kind of technology is best to install in millions of vehicles.

Its monumental, Alex Otte, national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving said, according to AP. Otte added the package the single most important legislation that could be the beginning of the end of drunk driving.

It will virtually eliminate the No. 1 killer on Americas roads, she said.

Road traffic crashes are among the leading causes of death in the United States for people aged 154, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that every day, about 28 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes. Furthermore, between 2010 to 2019, more than 10,000 people died every year in drunk-driving crashes.

More recently, NHTSA estimated that 20,160 people died in motor vehicle crashes of any reason in the first half of 2021, which is a 18.4% increase over 2020 and the largest number of projected deaths in that time period since 2006. Speeding, impaired driving and not wearing seatbelts are theories for the spike.

While there are some convicted drunken drivers that must use breathalyzer devices to gain access to driving their car, new cars may use different technology, seeing the legislation only says the device must passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired, according to AP.

Locally, KEA Technologies in Marlborough is one of the companies working on this tech, creating the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety which are sensors that are made to go into the car. There are two types of sensors: one that uses the breath of the driver and one that when touched, can register blood alcohol levels in the skin.

In total, $17 billion of the new bill is targeted towards making the roads safer. With this funding, the U.S. could see more bike paths and green spaces as well, AP reported.

These arent just numbers; these are family, friends, coworkers, neighbors and fellow Americans and tragically and disproportionately, Black, brown and Native American, Deputy Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg said, according to AP. Its not acceptable the level of deaths that were seeing on American highways right now.

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Infrastructure package requires new cars to have technology that prevents drunk driving by as soon as 2026 - masslive.com