Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio says he’s supporting the Roads Safe Act--a bill that would help create new technology to prevent intoxicated people from starting their cars. There are existing devices, such as ignition locks, but Brown says those are expensive and obtrusive and don’t always work:
“With the help of the Roads Safe Act, a public-private partnership will make next generation technology devices smaller and less noticeable. Perhaps most importantly, it would help parents who could choose to install safety devices in the car of their driving-age child. It would be available on all vehicles, not just those owned by drunk drivers.”
Brown says anti-drunk driving groups, automakers and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would work together to design the new devices. The Executive Director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Ohio, Doug Scoles, says his organization strongly supports the bill:
“A person will drive drunk for one reason--because they can. If we can stop that from happening through technology then we can completely eliminate the crime of drunk driving and the fatalities that go with that.”
There have been previous versions of this bill that Senator Brown says have garnered bipartisan support. He says the sponsors of the Roads Safe Act hope to move it through the Senate as quickly as possible and then through the House.