Legislation Which Could Lead to the Elimination of Drunk Driving Advances in U.S. House

WASHINGTON, May 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today Mothers Against Drunk Driving was proud to support Congressman John Sarbanes (D-MD) on the passage of the ROADS SAFE Amendment as part of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act.  The amendment was approved by voice vote in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

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"MADD is grateful to Congressman Sarbanes for his leadership to eliminate drunk driving," said MADD National President Laura Dean-Mooney. "Because of this amendment, the elimination of drunk driving will truly be possible." MADD also would like to thank Chairman Henry Waxman, Chairman Bobby Rush, and Chairman Emeritus John Dingell for their work on this legislation.

"Drunk driving killed more than 11,000 people in 2008 and alcohol related crashes cost the public an estimated $114 billion each year," said Congressman John Sarbanes. "Developing technologies to prevent these unnecessary tragedies is a tremendous investment in the safety of our nation's roads and highways."

The amendment provides $8 million per year over five years to help boost the research for the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety, or DADSS.  DADSS is the result of a cooperative research agreement between the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS), comprised of the world's leading auto manufacturers, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

"This is not an ignition interlock device that you would find on a convicted drunk driver's vehicle today," said MADD President Laura Dean-Mooney. "The goal is to create a non-intrusive, reliable, and cost effective technology to unobtrusively detect a driver's blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and, if the device reads over the illegal limit of .08 BAC or higher, the car could not be driven."

The device must be fast, accurate, reliable, and repeatable. From the vehicle manufacturer's perspective it must also be readily integrated into the vehicle's existing systems, be durable, require little or no maintenance, and be tamper resistant. In other words the device must be seamless to operate.  Currently three companies are under contract to develop prototype technologies to meet the goals of the program. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) estimates that such a system could have saved more than 8,000 lives in 2008.  Moreover, a recent IIHS poll found 64 percent of American's believe that advanced alcohol detection technology which is reliable and would prevent an impaired driver from operating a vehicle is a good idea.

This legislation is the House companion bill to Senator Tom Udall and Senator Bob Corker's S. 3930. The ROADS SAFE Act would provide reasonable funding for the research and development of vehicle technologies to end drunk driving.

Since MADD was founded in 1980, drunk driving fatalities have decreased by over 40 percent. www.madd.org, 1-800-GET-MADD, 1-877-MADD-HELP (24 hour victim/survivor assistance).

SOURCE Mothers Against Drunk Driving

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