Under a key provision of the trillion-dollar infrastructure package that awaits President Biden's signature, automakers would be required to equip cars with technology aimed at preventing drunken or impaired driving as early as 2026.
The technology that would be used is far from settled, with Congress stopping short of endorsing ignition lock devices like those that are frequently mandated by courts for drunken-driving offenders and involve a breath test.
However, groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving claim that the safety mandate would save thousands of lives. According to a 2020 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, more than 9,000 people are killed in drunken-driving accidents in the United States each year.
According to Alex Otte, president of MADD, the measure would "virtually eliminate the No. 1 killer on America's roads."
“We need technology to stop the nightmare on our roads,” Ms. Otte said. “Existing technologies and those in development will stop the hazardous driving behavior of people who refuse to make the right choice themselves.”
The safety equipment must "passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired" and "prevent or limit motor vehicle operation if an impairment is detected," according to the mandate.
What lawmakers considered passive monitoring was not immediately clear.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was given three years by Congress to issue a final rule for the safety devices, which the bill stated would give automakers enough time to comply with the measure.
On Wednesday, the agency did not respond immediately.
Proponents of the mandate noted that in 2019, 68 percent of fatal drunken-driving accidents involved drivers with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.15 percent or higher. The legally permissible limit is 0.08 percent.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation's president and CEO, John Bozzella, said in a statement this week that the industry group appreciated lawmakers giving safety regulators flexibility to review different technology options.
“The auto industry has long been committed to supporting public and private efforts to address this tragic threat to road safety, which contributes to more than 10,000 lives lost each year,” Mr. Bozzella said. “A number of provisions in this legislation take on this important challenge, from support for enforcement to the advancement of potentially life-saving technologies.”
Scott Schmidt, the alliance's vice president for safety policy, stated in a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in January that it was critical that drunken-driving deterrent systems use precise data about a driver's blood-alcohol concentration.
He warned that alternative driving monitoring systems, such as those based on cameras, could produce false positives.
Mr. Schmidt recalled that in the 1970s, federal regulators enacted a rule requiring drivers to wear seatbelts before starting their cars, but that it was later repealed due to public outcry.
"Because of the nature of alcohol impairment, driver warnings and mild interventions are unlikely to be effective," Mr. Schmidt said. "As a result, intrusive interventions would be necessary." If such interventions are required, system accuracy must be extremely high in order to meet consumer expectations and avoid consumer backlash."