DENVER (KDVR) — The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending installing a blood alcohol monitoring system in every new car to reduce the number of deaths on highways.
NTSB said alcohol is the leading cause of death in the United States.
“Technology can prevent the tens of thousands of fatalities from impaired-driving and speeding-related crashes we see in the U.S. annually,” said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. “We need to implement the technologies we have right here, right now to save lives.”
The Colorado Department of Transportation said there were 190 traffic fatalities just in June, July, and August of this year and 63 of those deaths involved alcohol.
From January through September, alcohol was involved in nearly 3,600 crashes, with Denver accounting for 11% of those crashes.
NTSB calls this “crisis level.” The department is currently testing technology to install in all new cars, ranging from a standard breathalyzer where the driver would blow into a tube, to a light that tests a person’s finger.
If this rule is ever adopted, it could go into effect in as a little as three years.