The National Transportation Safety Board of USA (NTSB by National Transportation Safety Board) said yesterday that all new vehicles should be equipped with alcohol detection systems that can prevent people from driving when drunk.
The NTSB cannot issue such a regulation on its own, but it has urged the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to do so.
The NTSB Reported that it “recommends measures that make use of new in-vehicle technologies that can limit or prevent drunk drivers from operating their vehicles, as well as technologies to prevention of excessive speed".
If approved, this would require “integrated passive alcohol impairment detection systems in the vehicle, advanced driver monitoring systems, or a combination of the two that could prevent or limit mode of the vehicle if driver impairment is detected," the NTSB said. The agency urged NHTSA to "require all new vehicles to be equipped with such systems."
Under a US law enacted last year, NHTSA is already required to consider whether it can issue such rules. While drunk driving is a long-standing problem that has caused many deaths, the NTSB said its recommendation was prompted by its investigation into a accident that killed nine people — including seven children — in January 2021 on State Route 33 near Avenal, California.
