NHTSA to Require Impairment Checking Technology
On Tuesday, December 12th, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced plans that it is working on creating standards for technology to check if the drivers of passenger vehicles are intoxicated or otherwise impaired before the car can move normally.
Details
The device is required as a part of the massive Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, colloquially known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Currently the work is only being done to passenger vehicles, but it is highly likely that the same regulatory standards will apply to commercial vehicle drivers once they are set.
“It’s going to keep drunk drivers off the road and we’re going to keep people from dying because somebody’s drunk,” said Democrat Michigan Representative Debbie Dingell in regards to the regulation, and who voted yes on the final Bill that included this requirement’s implementation. “This is going to be simple technology.”
The testing technology will not just check if a driver is sober, but as to whether or not they are adequately rested. After all, going more than 20 hours without sleep impairs the brain in a way comparative to a blood-alcohol content of .1%, halfway between double and triple the limit for commercial vehicle drivers.
So what will this technology look like? Will a driver have to score 10,000 points on the video game Asteroids before they are allowed to drive (we hope)? Currently, details are being kept under wraps by the NHTSA.
Conclusion
As long as the technology is minimally invasive, we approve of it. After all, about 37 people die on average every day from a crash involving alcohol-impaired driving, while the numbers on sleep deprivation crashes are currently unknown. We joked about having to play Asteroids, but even something like that, done multiple times a day as a driver stops to refuel, eat, and use the restroom can become cumbersome.
Should the technology come to trucking and other commercial vehicle operation, there is no doubt that its standards will be higher. After all, truckers are held to a higher standard than standard drivers in almost every other capacity.
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