Ambitious Drunk Driving Prevention Research Program Moves Forward

Drivable Test Vehicle Expected in Two Years

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The national research effort to develop publicly-acceptable technology that will prevent the illegal operation of a vehicle by a drunk driver (0.08 or above blood alcohol content) is entering a new phase in which it will move out of the laboratory and onto the road with a drivable test vehicle expected to be ready in two years.

The Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) research program, which began in 2008, is a five-year, $10 million cooperative research effort of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS), representing the nation's leading automakers.

"What we're doing is developing technology that won't hassle sober drivers; will require virtually no maintenance or upkeep; and will have such precision that it only stops a driver when their blood alcohol content is at or exceeds 0.08 blood alcohol content (BAC) – which is the legal limit that policymakers have set for drunk driving in every state," said Rob Strassburger, Vice President, Safety and Harmonization of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.  "This will be lifesaving technology."

Autoliv Development AB of Sweden and Takata-TruTouch of Auburn Hills, Michigan and Albuquerque, N.M., are both involved in the next research phase. Each company has been awarded $2.25 million after successfully demonstrating during the proof-of-concept phase that they have the potential for ultimately meeting stringent performance criteria established for DADSS.

Installation of the prototype DADSS systems into a research vehicle continues the development of these technologies for subsequent voluntary installation in production vehicles in the next eight to ten years.

Autoliv is developing a breath-based testing device for BAC detection, while Takata-TruTouch is working on a touch-based approach. (See descriptions below.)

"While the nation has made great strides in reducing drunk driving over the years, it continues to be one of the leading causes of death and injury on America's roads, claiming a life every 48 minutes.  Advanced alcohol-detection technologies are a promising new tool to prevent drunk drivers and repeat offenders from getting behind the wheel," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who visited the DADSS laboratory in the Boston area with NHTSA Administrator David Strickland in January.

"As a public health and safety agency we're deeply concerned about drunk drivers and the safety risk they impose on all motorists," said Administrator Strickland.  "No matter what the future holds for advanced alcohol-detection technologies, one thing remains clear; no technology can, or should, ever replace a driver's personal responsibility not to drive drunk."

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) National President Jan Withers, whose 15-year-old daughter, Alisa Joy, was killed by a drunk driver, noted that development of advanced alcohol detection technology is a major element of MADD's Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving, which is marking its fifth anniversary in November. "There has been great progress in reducing drunk driving deaths and injuries over the past 30 years," Withers stated, "but there were still nearly 11,000 such fatalities in 2009, nearly one-third of the traffic toll.  DADSS has the potential to prevent an estimated 8,000 drunk driving deaths a year."

Opinion research indicates that the public is ready for such a device. Research shows that two-thirds of those surveyed considered the use of advanced technology to keep drunk drivers off the roads to be a "good" or "very good" idea.

Description of DADSS Technologies
The DADSS Program has identified two technological approaches as having considerable promise in measuring driver BAC noninvasively: (1) Tissue Spectrometry, a touch-based approach allowing assessment of alcohol in the driver's skin, and (2) Distant Spectrometry, a breath-based approach that will allow assessment of alcohol concentration in the driver's exhaled breath.  Each technological approach is described briefly below.

Touch-based Approach
In the touch-based approach, measurement begins by shining an infrared light on the user's skin (similar to a low power flashlight).  A portion of the light scatters several millimeters through the driver's skin before returning back to the skin's surface where it is collected by the optical touch pad.  This light contains information on the skin's unique chemical properties which can be analyzed to determine the driver's alcohol concentration.

Breath-based Approach
The breath-based approach makes it possible to perform a contact free, quick, unobtrusive measurement of the driver's breath alcohol by using the concentrations of carbon dioxide as a measure of dilution of the driver's exhaled breath.  Multiple sensors placed in the vehicle cabin will allow the system to ensure that the breath sample is from the driver and not other passengers.

SOURCE Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS)