November 20, 2006
Mothers Against Drunk Driving is launching a new campaign to eradicate drunken driving through technology as well as more stringent law enforcement and tougher state laws.
Alcohol-related traffic fatalities have decline 40 percent since MADD was founded in 1980 but the organization points out that every year nearly 13,000 people are killed by drunk drivers with an illegal blood alcohol level of .08 or above.
The MADD campaign includes calling for breath-test interlock devices in the vehicle of anyone convicted of drunken driving.
MADD says that with emerging technology, "the vision that drunk drivers will not be able to operate vehicles is no longer a dream but, with substantial research, a real possibility."
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Nicole Nason joined MADD at a news conference to call for the use ignition interlocks.
An ignition interlock is located inside the vehicle near the driver's seat and is connected to the engine's ignition system. Before starting the vehicle, a driver must blow into the device. The vehicle will not start if the driver's blood alcohol concentration is above the pre-set limit.
The cost of installing an interlock is roughly $1,000 per vehicle. Last year, there were an estimated 80,000 interlock devices on. U.S. roads "despite 1.4 million drunken driving arrests." according to MADD.
In Europe, Sweden intends to require all new cars to have the ignition interlocks by 2012.
Ford Motor Co.'s Volvo unit has an Alcolock built into the seat belt buckle that may be available as an option in the U.S. by 2009. GM's Saab division has an AlcoKey, a vehicle key that has a mouthpiece and breath analyzer. A driver breathes into the key that sends an electronic signal to the car through a radio transmitter.
Drunken-driving arrests hit 1.4 million in 2004. Since 1999, every state has set a 0.08 blood alcohol level as the point at which a driver can be convicted of drunken driving. States also have added penalties such as instant cancellation of driver's licenses and vehicle impoundment for suspects who refuse blood alcohol tests.
MADD also supports random checkpoints and other high-visibility law enforcement to crack down on drunken driving and says it will fight laws in ten states that prevent drunken driving checkpoints.
