Infrastructure Bill Requires New Technology to Prevent Drunk Driving

The $1 trillion infrastructure package expected to be signed soon by President Biden includes a provision requiring automakers to include new technology to prevent drunk driving, the Associated Press reports.

The legislation requires automakers to include monitoring systems to stop intoxicated drivers in all new vehicles as early as 2026. The Transportation Department must first determine the best type of technology to install in vehicles, the article notes. The legislation mandates that the technology must “passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired.”

More than 10,000 people died in drunk-driving crashes in the United States in 2019, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The new legislation “will virtually eliminate the No. 1 killer on America’s roads,” Mothers Against Drunk Driving National President Alex Otte said in a news release. “We need technology to stop the nightmare on our roads,” Otte said. “Existing technologies and those in development will stop the hazardous driving behavior of people who refuse to make the right choice themselves.”