The Washington Auto Show showcased a lot of technology meant to keep you safer behind the wheel, including one program experimenting with tech to keep drunken drivers off the road.

Today, Robert Strassburger, President & CEO of ACTS, issued the following statement on behalf of the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) Research Program in response to a new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine titled Getting to Zero Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities: A Comprehensive Approach to a Persistent Problem. This report, which was released today, identified promising strategies to reduce deaths caused by alcohol-impaired driving in the United States.

Over the course of the year, the DADSS Program has made some developments. In an effort to keep our supporters in the loop on all that we’re up to, we’ve put together a technical update on the latest in the development of the technology.

The DADSS Program was pleased to exhibit at the Governors’ Highway Safety Administration’s Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, from September 16 to 20. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, GHSA’s 2017 Annual meeting drew more than 600 state members and safety professionals to discuss the latest trends, challenges and opportunities. Alongside video content and previous versions of the technology, the DADSS Program showcased a vehicle outfitted with the latest breath sensors for field operational tests. The DADSS team also introduced visitors to Driven to Protect and the work underway in Virginia.

This past week, the U.S. Department of Transportation released the most recent Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data showing an increase in alcohol-related traffic fatalities of 1.7 percent—from 10,320 in 2015 to 10,497—accounting for 28 percent of overall fatalities in 2016. DADSS Program & Technical Manager Dr. Bud Zaouk responded to the news by saying that “with alcohol-related fatalities on the rise, we are laser focused on making sure this life-saving technology becomes a reality. Reversing the deadly trend is exactly what motivates engineers and researchers to successfully complete this program in the coming years.”