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Kill switch for cars update#
Since 1990, about 1,000 children have died from vehicular heatstroke after the highest total in a single year was 54 in 2018, according to .Ĭongress, meanwhile, directed the agency to update decades-old safety standards to avert deaths from collapsing front seatbacks and issue a rule requiring automatic emergency braking and lane departure warnings in all passenger vehicles, though no date was set for compliance.
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Kill switch for cars install#
The voluminous bill also requires automakers to install rear-seat reminders to alert parents if a child is left inadvertently in the back seat, a mandate that could begin by 2025 after NHTSA completes its rulemaking on the issue. "I don't think it's going to go over very well with a lot of people," he said. If signs are spotted, the cars will warn the driver, and if the behavior persists, the car would turn on its hazard lights, slow down and pull to the side of the road.Ībuelsamid said breathalyzers aren't a practical solution because many people would object to being forced to blow into a tube every time they get into the car. The cameras make sure a driver is watching the road, and they look for signs of drowsiness, loss of consciousness or impairment. That technology is already being installed by automakers such as General Motors, BMW and Nissan to track driver attentiveness while using partially automated driver-assist systems. Sam Abuelsamid, principal mobility analyst for Guidehouse Insights, said the most likely system to prevent drunken driving is infrared cameras that monitor driver behavior. The legislation doesn't specify the technology, only that it must "passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired."
Kill switch for cars drivers#
The agency has pointed to speeding, impaired driving and not wearing seatbelts during the coronavirus pandemic as factors behind the spike.Įach year, around 10,000 people are killed due to alcohol-related crashes in the U.S., making up nearly 30% of all traffic fatalities, according to NHTSA.Ĭurrently, some convicted drunken drivers must use breathalyzer devices attached to an ignition interlock, blowing into a tube and disabling the vehicle if their blood alcohol level is too high. Last month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported an estimated 20,160 people died in traffic collisions in the first half of 2021, the highest first-half total since 2006. Otte called the package the "single most important legislation" in the group's history that marks "the beginning of the end of drunk driving." "It's monumental," said Alex Otte, national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Monday that could mean more protected bike paths and greener spaces built into busy roadways. In all, about $17 billion is allotted to road safety programs, the biggest increase in such funding in decades, according to the Eno Center for Transportation.
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