Rows of crosses form a memorial along Highway 33 as police officers survey the scene a day after the crash that killed nine people south of Coalinga, California, on January 2, 2021.
Eric Paul Zamora / Ong Fresno via AP
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Eric Paul Zamora / Ong Fresno via AP
Rows of crosses form a memorial along Highway 33 as police officers survey the scene a day after the crash that killed nine people south of Coalinga, California, on January 2, 2021.
Eric Paul Zamora / Ong Fresno via AP
DETROIT – The National Transportation Safety Board recommends that all new vehicles in the United States be required to have a blood alcohol monitoring system that can prevent a drunk person from driving.
Recommendations, if issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, could reduce the number of alcohol-related crashes, one of the biggest causes of highway deaths in the US
A new effort to make the roads safer was included in a report released Tuesday of a horrific crash last year in which a drunk driver was involved in a collision. head-on with another vehicle near Fresno, California, killing both adults and seven children.
NHTSA this week said the number of road deaths in the US is at crisis levels. Nearly 43,000 people were killed last year, the largest number in 16 years, as Americans returned to the streets after the pandemic dictated stay-at-home orders.
Initial estimates showed the death toll rose again in the first half of this year, but they declined from April to June, which authorities hope is a trend.
If adopted, the recommendation could take effect in a few years
The NTSB, which has no regulator and can only ask other agencies to act, said the recommendation was made to pressure NHTSA to move. It could take effect as early as three years from now.
“We need NHTSA to act. We see the numbers,” said NTSB President Jennifer Homendy. “We need to make sure we’re doing all we can to save lives.”
The NTSB has been pushing NHTSA to explore alcohol monitoring technology since 2012, she said. “The faster this technology is deployed, the more lives are saved,” she said.
The recommendation also calls for systems to monitor drivers’ behavior, ensuring they stay alert at all times. Many cars now have cameras pointed at the driver, she said, which has the potential to limit impaired driving.
But Homendy said she also understands that completing the alcohol tests will take a long time. “We also know that it will take time for NHTSA to assess what technologies are available and how to develop a standard.”
A notice was left on Tuesday seeking comment from NHTSA.
Research on monitoring alcohol drivers has been conducted since 2008
The agency and a group of 16 automakers have jointly funded research into alcohol monitoring since 2008, forming a group called Driver Alcohol Detection Systems.
Jake McCook, a spokesman for the group, said the team hired a Swedish company to work on technology that could automatically test a driver’s breath for alcohol levels and stop the vehicle if the driver vehicle is impaired. The driver won’t have to blow into a tube, McCook said, and a sensor will check the driver’s breathing.
Another company is working on light technology that can test the blood alcohol concentration in a person’s finger, he said. The breath technology could be ready by the end of 2024, while the touch technology will be available about a year later.
It could be another year or two, McCook said, after automakers bring the technology to new vehicles.
Once the technology is ready, it will take years for it to be on most of the roughly 280 million vehicles on US roads.
Congress asked NHTSA to force automakers to install surveillance systems
Under last year’s bipartisan infrastructure law, Congress required NHTSA to force automakers to install alcohol monitoring systems within three years. The agency may apply for an extension. In the past, the issuance of such requests has been slow.
The law doesn’t specifically address the technology, only stating that it must “passively monitor” drivers to determine if they are impaired.
According to NHTSA figures, in 2020, 11,654 people died in alcohol-related crashes. That’s about 30 percent of all traffic deaths in the United States, and a 14 percent increase from 2019 figures, the last year before the coronavirus pandemic, the NTSB said.
In the reported fatal crash, a 28-year-old SUV driver was returning home from a 2021 New Year’s party where he had been drinking. The SUV veered off the right side of Highway 33, crossed the middle line, and crashed head-on into a Ford F-150 pickup truck near Avena, California.
The pickup was carrying Gabriela Pulido, 34, and seven kids aged 6 to 15 home from a trip to Pismo Beach. The NTSB said the truck quickly caught fire and bystanders were unable to save the passengers.
The SUV driver’s blood alcohol level was 0.21%, nearly three times the California legal limit. He also had marijuana on his system, but the agency said the alcohol was more than enough to seriously affect his driving. According to reports, the SUV was traveling between 88 and 98 miles per hour (142 to 158 kilometers per hour).
The NTSB said the crash happened less than a second after the Cruise entered the road again, giving Pulido no time to avoid a collision, the NTSB said.
Juan Pulido, 37, whose wife and four children were killed in the crash, said he is glad the NTSB is promoting alcohol monitoring because it can prevent another person from losing loved ones. “It’s something that their family has to live with,” he said. “Tomorrow it won’t go away.”
Pulido’s attorney, Paul Kiesel, said the driver monitoring system could also prevent crashes caused by medical problems or sleepiness, saving suffering and billions in hospital treatment costs. .
