Reducing drunk driving is critical.

The following is a guest post by Pari Chang, a professional blogger for SixEstate. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, SELF, and Glamour.

Reducing Drunk Driving with Technology – Pari Chang.

Government Can Reduce Drunk Driving With New Technology by Pari Chang

It’s astounding: The average drunk driver will drive drunk 87 times before being pulled over! Plus, 75% of drunk drivers whose licenses are suspended continue to drive. It’s essential for local governments to use available new technology to protect our communities.

“Proven strategies for lowering rates of drunk driving are underused. One such intervention, sobriety checkpoints, at which police stop and test drivers for intoxication, are still not used at all in 12 states. Fourteen states do not mandate the use of ignition interlocks, which require drivers with a DWI conviction blow into a Breathalyzer before driving,” writes Barron H. Lerner, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Public Health at Columbia University Medical Center and author of the book One for the Road: Drunk Driving Since 1900.

Indeed, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) considered whether a stated used ignition interlocks in its recently released state-by-state ratings. The ratings are part of its campaign to eliminate drunk driving. Each state’s rating was determined by adoption of the following proven drunk-driving countermeasures:

• Requiring ignition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers
• Conducting sobriety checkpoints
• Creating enhanced penalties for those who drive drunk with children in the vehicle
• Participating in “no-refusal” activities for those suspected of drunk driving
• Utilizing Administrative License Revocation for drunk driving offenders

The states earning a five-star rating include Arizona, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, and Utah; while Montana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Dakota each earned one star. These ratings are an indication of states passing effective laws and employing effective drunk-driving countermeasures, and are independent of a state’s fatality numbers.

“Colorado fared in the middle of the road — pardon the pun,” says Daniel R. Rosen, a personal injury lawyer in Denver whose firm handles a multitude of auto accident cases, “but we’ve reduced incidences of drunk driving, in part by publicizing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s ‘Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over‘ campaign,” he says.  “Drivers fear the repercussions of a DWI. It’s a strategy of deterrence that works.”

Drunk driving costs the United States more than $132 billion annually, according to data compiled by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE). Also, 181 children age 14 and younger died in alcohol-related accidents in 2009. Over half (92) were riding with the alcohol-impaired driver.

Rosen enthusiastically supports Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS). The DADSS program has recently announced the beginning of Phase II in the ambitious research effort to develop an inexpensive, unobtrusive, reliable, and hassle-free technology that will make a vehicle inoperable by a drunk driver (.08 blood alcohol concentration, or greater). This phase of the program is expected to produce a drivable test vehicle in two years, with a goal of having the technology available for voluntary installation in vehicles in eight to 10 years.

MADD National President Jan Withers says, “During this time of year, when drunk driving crashes are most prevalent, MADD urges states to increase enforcement efforts and countermeasures to save lives. […] Today, there is no longer a debate on the effectiveness of ignition interlocks — we’ve seen the lifesaving results — and every state should require these devices for all convicted drunk drivers. Along with broad support for high-visibility law enforcement and the DADSS program, the nation is truly on a path toward the elimination of drunk driving.”

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