Legislative Advocacy

Advanced Impaired Driving Technology signed into Federal Law!

The $1 trillion Infrastructure bill passed by Congress and signed by President Biden in November 2021 includes a section entitled “Advanced Impaired Driving Technology,” which calls on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to set new safety standards that advocates say will prevent drunk, impaired and distracted driving.

AMF worked with MADD to lobby legislators to pass this bill.

The legislation will require vehicles manufactured after a certain date to come equipped with technology that could include driving performance monitoring systems like lane departure warning and attention assist, a camera or sensor system to monitor the driver’s head and eyes or alcohol detection systems that would determine whether a driver is drunk and then prevent the car from moving. Once the safety standards are set, automakers will be given a three-year window to implement the technology, meaning vehicles made after 2026 will have the monitoring systems.

“We need technology to stop the nightmare on our roads,” said Alex Otte, MADD national president. “Existing technologies and those in development will stop the hazardous driving behavior of people who refuse to make the right choice themselves.”

Ms. Otte and other advocates are hailing the bill’s passage as the biggest legislative victory in the group’s 41-year history.

Ms. Otte also said it could virtually eliminate drunk driving.