The National Transportation Safety Board, seeking to curb alcohol-related car crashes, wants all new vehicles to include blood alcohol monitors to stop intoxicated people from hitting the road.
The NTSB asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to mandate alcohol-detection systems, driver monitors or both in all new vehicles.
The bipartisan infrastructure law Congress passed last year requires the NHTSA issue a rule by November 2024 ordering carmakers install alcohol monitors in light-duty cars and trucks within three years. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., introduced a bill this summer to reverse the mandate.
The NTSB, which has no regulatory authority of its own, also urged encouraging carmakers and car buyers to embrace speed-adaptation systems to prevent speed-related accidents.
The NHTSA and 16 carmakers have funded research on in-vehicle alcohol monitoring since 2008.
NHTSA data shows 11,654 people died in U.S. alcohol-related accidents in 2020, the most recent year for which complete statistics are available, or about 30% of all traffic deaths and up 14% over 2019.
