Infrastructure bill will require anti-drunk driving tech by 2026

by mcardinal

Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News

 

Among the less discussed provisions found in the bipartisan infrastructure bill is a requirement that automakers include equipment that will prevent drunk driving. 

As first reported by the Associated Press, the bill contains a mandate that all new cars will be required to contain monitoring equipment that prevents intoxicated drivers from operating a vehicle by 2026.

The mandate is the result of the urgings of Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), who began pushing for heightened drunk driving safety requirements following a deadly crash caused by a drunk driver in Wayne County, Michigan.  

“Thankful my bipartisan legislation to #StopDrunkDriving was passed as part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill,” Dingell tweeted. “By making drunk driving prevention tech standard on all new vehicles, we will save thousands of innocent lives every year!”

Mothers Against Drunk Driving has also come out in full support of the mandate:

In a separate tweet, MADD also praised Dingell, who the group said “led the way” for the legislation. 

The US Department of Transportation reports that on average 28 people die each day due to drunk driving crashes, with over 10,000 people dying in alcohol-induced accidents in 2019 alone. All 50 states have laws which make driving with a blood alcohol content (BAC) level above .08 illegal. This set BAC level has been determined to significantly increase driving impairment.

Details on what shape this mandate will take will not be known until after the Transportation Department declares which technology bests serves the purpose. However, there is already a form of anti-intoxication technology in use on the roads, as many states require those charged with a DUI to install an ignition interlock device, which is “a breath test device connected to a vehicle’s ignition” according to the National Highway Safety Office.

The department did not offer any insight into this mandate in an infrastructure fact sheet it released Wednesday. Its official Twitter and Facebook presences, and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg’s Twitter account, also contain no mention of the new mandate. 

In a press briefing on Nov. 8, Buttigieg did not mention drunk driving or the new mandate specifically. He did recall seeing “roads where community members are installing memorials to lives lost in preventable traffic crashes”, but it’s unclear if he meant this as a commentary on drunk driving crashes or a broader critique of the dangers of dilapidated roads and bridges.

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