Virginia aims to take the guesswork out of alcohol detection

The largest commercial test of its kind to detect alcohol consumption is set to occur in Virginia. It is a collaborative effort of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety and Schneider.

A public-private partnership between the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration known as the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety has been developed with the goal of taking the guesswork out of alcohol measurement.

By using sensors near the steering wheel, the driver will almost instantly know if they are at or above the legal limit, according to a news release. The technology is discreet and will prevent the vehicle from moving if the reading is above the legal limit.

According to the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety website, drunk drivers kill 10,000 people and cost approximately $194 billion annually in the United States. On Virginia roadways alone, 6,624 alcohol-related crashes, 272 alcohol-related fatalities and 3,986 alcohol-related injuries were reported in 2020, said the website.

“Virginians should be proud of our state’s leadership in public safety and technology innovation,”Virginia Department of Motor Vehicle Commissioner Richard D. Holcomb said in a news release. “The progress we have made since 2018 has advanced this game-changing anti-drunk driving technology, and I am excited to see how this new deployment will bring the technology one step closer to saving countless lives on our roadways.”

The news release also included the announcement of Green Bay, Wis.-based Schneider National Carriers Inc. as the first carrier to implement the alcohol detection program.

“Safety comes first at Schneider, always, and we believe in going above and beyond industry standards,” Tom DiSalvi, Schneider vice president of safety, driver training and compliance, said in the news release. “We look forward to the opportunity to pilot groundbreaking safety technology developed to help save lives.”

Schneider plans to install the sensors in eight trucks in 2022, each of which is expected to log more than 100,000 miles, for a total of nearly 1 million miles.

For more information about the Driven to Protect Initiative in Virginia, visit DrivenToProtectVA.org. LL