Santa Barbara DUI Lawyer Reports on new BAC Level Skin Device

In a report by Zlati Meyer, USA TODAY, a pair of companies are working on a device that checks a driver’s blood-alcohol level through the skin. Takata, a Japanese company unit with its U.S. base in Auburn Hills, Mich., and its partner, TruTouch in Albuquerque, have received a $2.25-million grant from the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS), an industry group, to make the device commercially viable. The device, described as a breadbox-sized device that uses an infrared sensor to determine alcohol level small enough, cheap enough and unobtrusive enough to be put on the car’s start button, said Kirk Morris, Takata’s vice president of business development.

NHTSA has a five-year, $10-million joint initiative with the ACTS called the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety. NHTSA said that project “is seen as a potential tool for keeping drunk drivers from being able to operate their car if their blood-alcohol concentration is at or above the legal intoxication limit (.08 or higher). The technology could be voluntarily installed as an option for new cars and signal a new frontier in the fight against drunk driving.” Susan Ferguson, program director for Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety, said she expects to see this alcohol screener go to market in eight to 10 years.

Currently in Santa Barbara drivers convicted of certain DUI charges are required to install an ignition interlock device (IID), a breathalyzer for the car. If you have been arrested for DUI in Santa Barbara you may face the requirement to have an IID installed on any car you own or operate. You should call the Law Office of Kenneth M. Hallum for a free consultation. Know your right, options, and defenses.