RESTAURANT TRADE GROUP DENOUNCES SENATE PASSED PLAN TO PLACE
ALCOHOL DETECTORS IN ALL CARS
ABI (American Beverage Institute) Urges Congress to Reject Highway Bill Provisions
Designed to End Social Drinking in America
WASHINGTON – The American Beverage Institute (ABI), which represents over eight thousand of America’s favorite family restaurants, urged the House to reject the Senate Highway Bill (S. 1813) which passed the chamber last Wednesday. The bill was amended to include a provision which drastically increases the funding for the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS), a federal program working to create alcohol detection systems for installation as standard equipment in all cars.
The bill appropriates $24 million in additional funding over two years for the research program, a dramatic increase from the $10 million the program received over the last five years.
“DADSS supporters claim the alcohol detectors would be voluntary and set at 0.08, but there is a growing mountain of evidence showing that their true goal is to put alcohol sensing technology in all cars as original equipment set well below the 0.08 level,” said ABI Managing Director Sarah Longwell.
Proponents claim that the devices would only prevent individuals from driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) above the current legal limit of 0.08 percent. However, due to legal liability and logistical concerns, they would have to be set below the legal limit – most likely around 0.03-0.04 percent.
A Department of Transportation fact sheet about the technology released last year admits: “The goal over time is to equip all passenger vehicles in the United States with the technology.”
Mothers Against Drunk Driving has made similar admissions. MADD President Jan Withers says that if the bill passes, alcohol detectors could become as standard in vehicles as airbags.
“Even if these alcohol detection devices were manufactured to be reliable 99.99966 percent of the time it would still mean over 4,000 misreadings per day,” said Longwell. “That means, every day, thousands of sober drivers could find their cars locked down by a faulty interlock.”
In addition to funding alcohol detection device research the Senate passed highway bill uses approximately $40 million in grants from the Department of Transportation to inform and encourage states to pass laws requiring ignition interlocks in-car breathalyzers as punishment for low BAC, first time DUI offenders.
“If the House decides to consider the Senate highway bill it should amend the interlock provisions to apply only to the hardcore, high BAC and repeat drunk drivers who cause the vast majority of alcohol impaired fatalities,” continued Longwell.
Though MADD claims that a recently released study by the Institute for Highway Safety shows that interlocks reduce recidivism, the study (and other interlock studies) also shows that after interlocks are removed from offenders’ vehicles their recidivism rate is virtually identical that of non-interlocked offenders.
The American Beverage Institute strongly urges the House to reject the activist campaign to put alcohol detectors in all cars and to reserve ignition interlocks as punishment for hardcore offenders who benefit most from the devices.
For more information or to speak with ABI managing director Sarah Longwell, please contact Michael Moroney at 202-463-7110.
The American Beverage Institute is an association of restaurants committed to the responsible serving of adult beverages.
To learn more visit: www.interlockfacts.com.
DRIVER ALCOHOL DETECTION SYSTEM FOR SAFETY (DADSS) - FACT SHEET
1. What is the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS)?
One of the most important government and auto industry partnerships over the past few years, the DADSS, is a five year cooperative research program to develop in-vehicle technology aimed at preventing alcohol impaired driving in the United States. The five year, cost sharing agreement between the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and most of the world’s auto makers involves cooperative research to develop technologies that will quickly and accurately measure a driver’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) in a non-invasive manner. If the system detects that a driver is drunk, the vehicle will be disabled from being driven. The DADSS technology must be seamless, accurate, reliable, and precise, and unobtrusive to the sober driver.
2. How might the technology work?
Two broad approaches are currently being pursued:
- Tissue spectrometry, a touch based approach allowing estimation of alcohol in tissue through detection of light absorption; and
- Distant spectrometry, using part of the infrared light spectrum to detect alcohol concentration in the driver’s exhaled breath.
3. Who is involved in this program?
NHTSA and an industry coalition called the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS) have jointly agreed to work together in collaborative research to develop the DADSS technology. ACTS is a nonprofit organization wholly funded by the world’s leading auto makers including BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai/Kia, Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo.
4. When did it start and how much funding is involved?
In February 2008 NHTSA initiated the five year, $10 million cooperative effort with the cost split between NHTSA and the auto industry’s ACTS coalition:
- Phase I of the program, a proof of concept stage, has just been completed and the results of this research are being demonstrated to the public at the DADSS lab in Waltham, Massachusetts.
- Phase II of the program began in February 2012 and will last for approximately two years. Phase II will involve a practical demonstration of one or more of the alcohol detection subsystems suitable for continued development and subsequent installation in vehicles.
5. When do you expect DADSS to be in U.S. automobiles?
The DADSS research is still in the early stages and it is premature to discuss when the technology will be available for general use although we’ve heard from the auto industry that it is reasonable to expect that it could begin to be integrated into vehicles in approximately 8 to 10 years.
6. Will DADSS be in every new car and light truck?
The goal over time is to equip all passenger vehicles in the United States with the technology since, without full implementation, the benefits will be reduced. However, as with any new technology introduction, it will take additional time before it is available throughout the vehicle fleet.
7. How much will DADSS add to the price of a new vehicle?
The cost per vehicle hasn’t yet been established, but it has to be in line with other safety systems. As with any new technology, as more and more vehicles are equipped with the system the price will decrease. Air bags are one example of this.
8. Will I be able to drive my car if I have just one drink, or a glass of wine with my dinner?
The DADSS threshold has been set at .08 grams per deciliter BAC which is the legal limit enacted in all States. The DADSS technology is not intended to prevent anyone from having a glass of wine or an alcoholic beverage for dinner. The amount of alcohol a person can consume before reaching the legal limit varies based on a person’s weight and body chemistry, food being consumed, and how fast the person is drinking among many other factors.
WHY ARE WE HERE?
The Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have entered into a cooperative research agreement to explore the feasibility, the potential benefits of, and the public policy challenges associated with a more widespread use of in-vehicle technology to prevent alcohol impaired driving.
Aftermarket ignition interlocks have been used successfully among convicted drunk drivers to significantly reduce the incidence of impaired driving. However, deployment of the current technology on a more widespread basis as a preventative measure is not likely to occur because drivers are required to provide a breath sample each and every time before starting the vehicle. To be acceptable for use among the general public, including those who do not drink and drive, alcohol detection technologies must be far less intrusive. They must not impede sober drivers from starting their vehicles. They would need to be capable of rapidly and accurately determining and measuring alcohol in the blood. They would also need to be small, reliable, durable, repeatable, maintenance free, and relatively inexpensive.
Almost 8,000 road traffic deaths could be prevented every year if alcohol detection devices were used in all vehicles.
The technical challenges in meeting these goals are substantial, however, the potential benefits to society are compelling. It has been estimated by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety that almost 8,000 road traffic deaths could be prevented every year if alcohol detection devices were used in all vehicles to prevent alcohol impaired drivers from driving their vehicles.
To achieve these goals, a step by step, data driven process will be followed to ensure that effective technologies are developed. Technological solutions can be effective only if the driving public who use the technologies understand and accept them. Only when technology meets the exacting standards described above and is coupled with public acceptance will consideration be given to applying it more widely.
