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NTSB Calls for Alcohol Detection Systems in All New Vehicles

ntsb.gov

101–110 of 212 posts

Re: NTSB Calls for Alcohol Detection Systems in All New Vehicles

#101

The story buries the lede, the real win for them is driver-facing cameras. Can't wait until they install a printer so they can just print the tickets out right into my car.

You dont need cameras for that at all. Its usually solved like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignition_interlock_device

Re: NTSB Calls for Alcohol Detection Systems in All New Vehicles

#102
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Safety' is going to be the thing that kills personal liberty in this country.

We could eliminate food inspection and driver's licenses. That would increase liberty, but I don't think most people would find the freedom worthy of the cost.

Is anyone suggesting that?

Re: NTSB Calls for Alcohol Detection Systems in All New Vehicles

#104
post #88
post #71

Hmm. How will they check for alcohol? Would you still be able to drive home a car full of drunks while sober? Only with all windows open?

Its a solved problem, you can read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignition_interlock_device

Requires a starting sample and samples at random times afterward. It’s very intrusive.

Re: NTSB Calls for Alcohol Detection Systems in All New Vehicles

#105

Instead of mostly attempting symptom mitigation, wouldn't it be a much better improvement for society if the relation (some?) Americans have with alcohol was repaired?

Coming from an European country:

16 year olds can openly buy beer in the supermarket and consume it on their way home from school.

Driving licenses start at age 18, but there's two years of special probation that punish DUIs more extensively (and have a significantly lower limit). Police enforcement of these driving rules at times when young people celebrate is high.

This also means they do not start binge-drinking AFTER they got their driving license, they know their limits by then.

Doesn't mean we don't have drunk drivers, but maybe less drunk ones. We've had around 13500 alcohol-induced accidents with human casualties (of 306000 altogether) in 2021, but only about 2600 deaths overall, so probably less than 300 alcohol-related deaths in traffic.

Re: NTSB Calls for Alcohol Detection Systems in All New Vehicles

#106
post #80

"43,000 people were killed last year, the greatest number in 16 years" True, but there were also 250 billion more miles traveled than 16 years ago and a population of roughly 40 million more people. So though the raw number is higher, the traffic fatalities per mile traveled and per capita is actually lower than it was back then.

'Safety' is going to be the thing that kills personal liberty in this country.

Ah yes, that old personal liberty of driving drunk. Who will save us from this nanny state.

Re: NTSB Calls for Alcohol Detection Systems in All New Vehicles

#107

Instead of mostly attempting symptom mitigation, wouldn't it be a much better improvement for society if the relation (some?) Americans have with alcohol was repaired?

This seems akin to trying to change our nations attitude towards guns and semi automatic weapons instead of improving gun control legislation. According to the 2020 figures in the article > 10,000 people are dying every year from alcohol-related accidents. If there’s something tangible that can be done to reduce that death count, I’m all for it. As wonderful as it would be to reform the national attitude towards alcohol and excessive drinking, the alcohol lobby and our stubbornness as a culture would probably make it very challenging to effect any meaningful change. It’ll be interesting to see how far this gets from a technical standpoint and, if it does actually make it into new vehicles, how many work-arounds people come up with.

Re: NTSB Calls for Alcohol Detection Systems in All New Vehicles

#108

Instead of mostly attempting symptom mitigation, wouldn't it be a much better improvement for society if the relation (some?) Americans have with alcohol was repaired?

Like it or not (I’m ambivalent) this is a concrete measure that would presumably have measurable effects. What’s the equivalent for your proposed approach?

Re: NTSB Calls for Alcohol Detection Systems in All New Vehicles

#109
Would it not be way more useful if the NTSB focused on road design? As someone from Europe I oftentimes see very wide roads in the USA with a maximum speed of 15 mph or something, their design does not stop one from driving 50+ mph, however. In Europe, you often see that if there's a lower maximum speed, the width of the road is reduced, and obstacles are placed to ensure you actually can't drive significantly faster than allowed.

Also, smaller streets will typically lead to less distracted drivers, because it requires a certain level of concentration to navigate these streets.

Oh, and something about enormous SUV's that won't make traffic any safer...

Re: NTSB Calls for Alcohol Detection Systems in All New Vehicles

#110

Older cars that can be legally driven without all the nanny state crap are going to be worth bank for a while; until they get outlawed. Theme music: "Red Barchetta" by Rush

Just wait until you can't even own a car anymore, but only subscribe to one.
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