Can My Car Tell Me If I’m Drunk?
Q. I drive about 35,000 miles per year and have been known to have a glass of wine or two with dinner and I’m concerned about my ability to drive. I sell pharmaceuticals and take clients out to dinner so I’m on the road a lot and can’t jeopardize my license. Has any car come out with a system that will let me know if I have had too much to drink?
A. Over the years I have heard about this type of thing but none have made it into production at least here in the United States. You best bet of course is not to drink and drive. As an alternative you could carry your own breathalyzer. I recently tested a product called BACtrack-VIO. This keychain device syncs to a smart phone and reads BAC (blood alcohol concentration). What is unique about this device is that if the user is impaired it will calculate when they are safe to drive. It will also give the user an indication of level of impairment and what functions are impaired-such as decision making, balance etc. Since this is a consumer device and relatively inexpensive ($50) it is most likely not as accurate as a (PBT) portable breath tester used by police departments. My intuition is the device errors slightly on the higher side, which in my opinion is okay. For more information about BACTrack go to www.bactrack.com. From a traffic safety standpoint my advice is never drink and drive.
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