Big Bother in 2026?

[Subliminal]

See my earlier post with regards to the negatives of a breathalyzer. I have one in my car right now... I don't drink and my wife is pregnant (baby dubber incoming) but one of our long time friends got a DUI. But for grace no one was hurt, she drifted over into a parked car. She doesn't have a car now though. But the DMV/judge doesn't really care about that and said she needed to have a breathalyzer installed on any car she might drive. She can't even drive an MT so she won't be driving my car but it has the breathalyzer installed.

wtf did i just read... LA is crazy

 

[ElectricEye]

My friend's co-worker just lost her life to a drunk driver 2 weeks ago. The drunk driver decided to flee from the cops and ran into the car killing herself and my friend's co-worker with her 2 youngest daughters in the car. Her 3rd daughter saw the post on a local newspaper site while she was away in college.

I lost my cousin at 19 cause of drunk driving. He wasn't driving, but the driver of the car was in was plastered and drove into a tree. My cousin was ejected and went through the windshield. The 3 rear occupants, including my cousin all died, while the driver and passenger survived.

Drunk driving sucks and ruins people lives. I'm not sure how I feel about government intervention. It seems really intrusive but what would be a bette

See my earlier post with regards to the negatives of a breathalyzer. I have one in my car right now... I don't drink and my wife is pregnant (baby dubber incoming) but one of our long time friends got a DUI. But for grace no one was hurt, she drifted over into a parked car. She doesn't have a car now though. But the DMV/judge doesn't really care about that and said she needed to have a breathalyzer installed on any car she might drive. She can't even drive an MT so she won't be driving my car but it has the breathalyzer installed.

I don't know how a camera could definitively determine a person is not intoxicated, so there is the concern of them starting the car and getting in an accident right away. But the breathalyzer can be defeated by a more sober person (or any occupant that does or cannot drive for any other reason) blowing. I suspect this scenario is person A is intoxicated and wants to leave in their car, person A and person B think person A is capable of driving, person B blows and person A drives away. There could be periodic tests while driving, but I think a camera is better in that situation.

I'd be curious to know how many drunk people would be able get get a sober person to blow a clean breath for them.
I'm betting it's a very low number.
If you're sober, and IN the car - wouldn't you just drive the car for the drunk person?
Would you really want to be a passenger with the drunk driving?

If you're not going to get in the car with the drunk, are you really going to blow a clean breath into a tube for the person and let them drive away drunk?
I guess some people might.

 

[Cuzoe]

wtf did i just read... LA is crazy

Yup! She has no car so doesn't technically "need" a license right now. I don't know all the details but the DMV and court system are separate. So the DMV could reinstate your license (because you have the interlock installed) but the judge can still tell you not to drive. In any case, both demand (as a consequence for the DUI) that an interlock be installed for a year. But the DMV doesn't really care about you not driving, they just want the piece of paper from the shop showing your name with an installed/active interlock device. I assume they will provide that to the court if asked.

@ElectricEye I would like to think that number of people is zero. But it's not really any different than a sober person watching their intoxicated friend/coworker/family member walk out of wherever they are and drive home. Yes blowing for them is active participation versus passively allowing it. But people do things like this every day, and young people do them more often. I certainly remember watching someone at a club/bar be asked by their friends, multiple times, if they were okay to drive. And that person successfully convincing those friends they were good to go... when they were not, and off they went.

 

[Desslok]

My friend's co-worker just lost her life to a drunk driver 2 weeks ago. The drunk driver decided to flee from the cops and ran into the car killing herself and my friend's co-worker with her 2 youngest daughters in the car. Her 3rd daughter saw the post on a local newspaper site while she was away in college.

I lost my cousin at 19 cause of drunk driving. He wasn't driving, but the driver of the car was in was plastered and drove into a tree. My cousin was ejected and went through the windshield. The 3 rear occupants, including my cousin all died, while the driver and passenger survived.

Drunk driving sucks and ruins people lives. I'm not sure how I feel about government intervention. It seems really intrusive but what would be a better solution?

People taking personal responsibility and not being careless. Punishing the many for the actions of the few is the government way.

 

[anotero]

Congress will try to go back to prohibition since they won't be able to figure out what type of device to use to help prevent drunk driving.

Nah, too much money to be made from booze sales.

 

[jimlloyd40]

Nah, too much money to be made from booze sales.

I was joking. How's the car doing?

 

[nosmirk]

I'd be curious to know how many drunk people would be able get get a sober person to blow a clean breath for them.
I'm betting it's a very low number.
If you're sober, and IN the car - wouldn't you just drive the car for the drunk person?
Would you really want to be a passenger with the drunk driving?

If you're not going to get in the car with the drunk, are you really going to blow a clean breath into a tube for the person and let them drive away drunk?
I guess some people might.

In my personal experience, quite a few. I'm generally a home drinker, so I often offer to drive others home, and almost always refused if they're up and mobile. I've seen "less-drunk" friends blow for them, GFs blowing for the BF, so they can get going to the next party or the liquor store before closing. I've been asked to blow for people in the past and always refuse. Sad but true. Thankfully most have grown up and stopped being macho about being able to drive drunk.

The Uber/Lyft proliferation has really helped my circle of friends not end up w/ DUIs. Wish others would follow, my friend was t-boned last year by an uninsured drunk in a Silverado. If you consider how safe Q7s are, he still had to be cut out and was in a medically induced coma that overnight, you'll understand how violent the collision was. Drunk driver wasn't badly injured until he took off and got bullseyed by another car.

 

[TimCv1]

Drunk driver wasn't badly injured until he took off and got bullseyed by another car.

This is often how it is, like they are just out of it and relaxed and escape getting injured much in ridiculous crashes that kill families and stuff.

 

[anotero]

I was joking. How's the car doing?

I know.

It's alive. Going to be replacing rear endlinks thu6s weekend.

 

[SnailPower]

I'd be curious to know how many drunk people would be able get get a sober person to blow a clean breath for them.
I'm betting it's a very low number.
If you're sober, and IN the car - wouldn't you just drive the car for the drunk person?
Would you really want to be a passenger with the drunk driving?

If you're not going to get in the car with the drunk, are you really going to blow a clean breath into a tube for the person and let them drive away drunk?
I guess some people might.

I was thinking the same exact thing. You got to be a moron to blow into that for your drunk friend to drive off. It's like sending him out to his death or others. You would be an accomplice to those deaths even if they didn't know you did that.

Though I also hear as other dude mentioned, I'm sure there will be people who do breathe into it in place of the actual driver. More than likely another drunk person that is "less drunk"? I don't know. I still think a person who hasn't had enough drinks in them and CAN drive, can make the correct decision on whether or not to blow into it. Unless you're talking total redneck hillbilly locations, I'm not sure I would know anyone that would do this.

From what I'm gathering regarding the camera, the camera is supposed to detect that you're drunk, preventing you from starting the car? I'd like to know how accurate that is and would imagine it could also be tricked.

 

[Cuzoe]

Intoxicated people aren't sneaking away to drive home, they leave less intoxicated folks and get in their cars every single day. The potential to be an accomplice, especially one that is very unlikely to be charged, is not a great (maybe not even good) deterrent. You'll have to live with it, and that will be awful, but people aren't thinking about all those potentially terrible outcomes when they let an intoxicated person get in the car or get behind the wheel themselves. If they were, and it made them not drive, or stop their friends from driving, or suggest a stranger get an Uber instead we wouldn't be having this discussion at all.

I'm also not sure how the camera would detect that you were drunk prior to starting the car... maybe require something akin to a field sobriety test? Add LED's to the camera housing that "instruct" you to look left-right-left (randomized), while also checking pupils? With determination and know how I would also imagine it could be tricked (you could just be lucky and guess the randomized left-right-left) but that isn't a reason not to put a safeguard in place.

A combination of breathalyzer (even with its problems) with the ability to prevent the car from starting that also requires random tests while driving, along with a camera for real time monitoring (for general signs that a person shouldn't be driving, not limited to intoxication) is likely the most "foolproof" method. Both the random breath tests and the camera monitoring would benefit from the ability to enable the hazards, tap the brakes/shake the wheel, pull over safely and/or slowly bring the car to a stop if needed. With semi-autonomous cars this is realistic, but not so much with older cars.

 

[Mandatoryclutchpedal]

Everything is in place to implement a system to detect impaired.

Take lane keep assist, sensors tied to auto braking and add algorithm to detect delayed response and erratic movements. Implement new hazard light standard to add additional pattern to hazard light flashing (2 quick flashes instead of steady ) and then put car into limp mode.

Best part about it is that not only will impaired drivers get caught, all the assholes on their cell phones will get roped in.

That should be the most cost effective way to satisfy the requirement.

 

[Subliminal]

Intoxicated people aren't sneaking away to drive home

Happens all the time. That's why you should take your friend's keys instead of just telling them they're too drunk to drive. I've seen it happen many times before where someone pretends they're going to the bathroom or something and then a minute later you hear them driving off

 

[SnailPower]

Yeah you know, I'm honestly all for this. It is one of those things that is probably looong overdue. We've added so much tech. to cars and one of biggest reasons for deaths yearly has not been even attempt to be rectified for years.

To some people who think this is no big deal, you just haven't been affected by the situation yet and hopefully never have to. You can say you never drink and drive but it shouldn't be yourself as the only concern. Think about it. Every night you go out for a late drive (for whatever reason), you can be potentially vulnerable to death from the actions of another ass$hole with complete disregard for YOU or everyone around him.

 

[Subliminal]

Self driving cars will fix this problem anyways