Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) – A vehicle safety technology approach to reducing alcohol-impaired driving – A status update

Alcohol-impaired driving continues to take a significant toll among road users both in the United States and around the world. In 2021, an estimated 42,915 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes, a 10.5% increase from 2020. The projection is the highest number of fatalities since 2005 and the largest annual percentage increase in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System’s (FARS) history. In 2020, in the U.S. alone, alcohol-impaired motor vehicle fatalities totaled 11,654, a 14% increase over 2019, which
accounts for approximately 30% of all traffic fatalities in the US for the year. To better address this ongoing problem, in 2008 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS) formed a cooperative research partnership to explore the feasibility, the potential benefits of, and the public policy challenges associated with the widespread use of non-invasive technologies to prevent alcohol-impaired driving. This partnership, known as the Driver
Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) Program has made great strides forward in the development of in-vehicle technologies that will measure blood or breath alcohol and may prevent alcohol-impaired drivers from driving their vehicles. Exploratory research in earlier phases of the program established the feasibility of two sensor approaches, breath- and touch-based, for in-vehicle use. The sensors have since been refined, in terms of both hardware and software, as the program strives to meet the performance specifications required for unobtrusive and reliable alcohol measurement.

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