The government is pushing for research on car safety systems that stop drivers who are drunk or not buckled properly, The Associated Press reported. The automatic systems wouldn't allow incapacitated drivers to operate their vehicles.
By year's end, the government is expected to start encouraging automakers to make these systems more readily available, officials said. Some special safety systems already in high-end vehicles include technology that warns a driver before a collision and can brake automatically to avoid or lessen the severity of a crash.
Traffic fatalities could be greatly reduced if such systems as collision avoidance, seat belt interlocks and driver alcohol detection are in cars, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
"We need a new vision and a new blend of technological research to address some of the most significant and persistent threats to American motorists," agency head David Strickland said in a statement. "We must look to technological intervention to make the next great leap, and get them poised for fleet adoption as soon as possible."
According to NHTSA data, highway fatalities increased last year for the first time since 2005, rising to 33,561 traffic deaths, 1,082 more than in 2011.
Of the deaths, 72 percent occurred in the first three months of the year; the rise in fatalities may have been partly due to an unusually warm winter and the subsequently longer motorcycle riding season.
Seat belt interlocks that automatically stop an unbuckled driver from operating a car could save as many as 3,000 lives a year, according to the NHTSA. Some 10,322 people died in alcohol-related accidents last year, many of which involved drivers with a blood alcohol content of nearly twice the legal limit.
The "driver alcohol detection system" wouldn't require any steps on the driver's part beyond putting hands on the steering wheel or pressing a start button.
"The automatic system would be enabled every time the car is started, but unobtrusive so it would not pose an inconvenience to the non-intoxicated driver," the agency said.
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