The National Transportation Safety Board of USA (NTSB from 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 prohibit drunk drivers from operating their vehicles, as well as technologies to prevent excessive speeding".
If approved, this would require “integrated passive alcohol impairment detection systems in the vehicle, advanced driver monitoring systems or a combination of two that could prevent or limit vehicle operation 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-term problem that has caused multiple deaths, the NTSB said its recommendation was prompted by its investigation into a crash that killed nine people — including seven children — in January 2021 on State Route 33 near Avenal in California.
