Washington, August 2 (Reuters)-A $1 trillion infrastructure bill being debated in the U.S. Senate includes a clause instructing U.S. regulators to enforce passive technology to prevent drunk drivers from starting vehicles , And avoid more than 10,000 deaths each year.

For more than 15 years, automakers and other companies have been studying potential technical repair methods to solve about one-third of the annual traffic accidents in the United States, and about one-third of them are caused by damaged drivers.

The legislative promotion has won the support of the anti-drunk driving mothers organization, the auto insurance industry and some alcohol industry associations.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) stated in a study last year that an alcohol detection system to prevent drunk driving could save more than 9,000 lives each year.

According to a 2010 study, drunk driving deaths caused US$44 billion in economic costs and US$210 billion in comprehensive social costs to the United States. According to IIHS, the US police department arrests about 1 million people for driving under the influence each year.

However, the question remains, whether the technology is accurate enough to be widely used and which one will be adopted.

In 2019, lawmakers told Reuters that automakers could use devices that determine the driver’s blood alcohol content by touching the steering wheel or engine start button, or they could install sensors to passively monitor the driver’s breathing or eye movements.

The bill will require the U.S. Department of Transportation to establish technical safety standards within three years—and then give automakers at least two years to comply—as long as the new requirements are “reasonable, feasible, and appropriate.”

The bill says that if the regulatory agency does not finalize new safety rules within 10 years, the agency must report to Congress.

Some convicted drunk drivers are required to use a breath test device connected to the ignition interlock before starting the vehicle.

The Senate bill did not specify this technology, but stated that it must "passively monitor the performance of motor vehicle drivers to accurately identify whether the driver may be harmed."

Of the 36,096 traffic accidents in 2019, an estimated 10,142 people died in drunk driving crashes.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and automobile manufacturers have studied a system that samples the driver’s breath, while another technology measures the blood alcohol content under the skin surface by irradiating infrared rays through the driver’s fingertips.

In 1974, Congress passed legislation to abolish the mandatory use of seat belt interlocks on automobiles. The government stipulates that vehicles sold after August 1973 require the driver to wear a seat belt before starting.

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