NTSB says all vehicles need alcohol detectors and the law will soon require them
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is officially recommending that all new cars and trucks be equipped with alcohol detection devices.
The decision comes following an investigation into a head-on collision that took place on New Year's Day 2021 in Avenel, California, between a speeding SUV being driven by an impaired driver and a pickup truck that left nine dead.
"Technology could’ve prevented this heartbreaking crash — just as it can prevent the tens of thousands of fatalities from impaired-driving and speeding-related crashes we see in the U.S. annually," NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said in a report.
The in car alcohol interlock device which stops drink drivers from starting their engine if they are over the legal drink drive limit, at Durham Police headquarters. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images) (Getty Images)
The NTSB, which has no regulatory authority itself, has told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that it should implement a requirement for the systems along with a program that would incentivize automakers and consumers "to adopt intelligent speed adaptation systems that would prevent speed-related crashes" even when alcohol is not involved.
