Chris Swonger, president/ceo, Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S., and Responsibility.org said the measure includes provisions to stop preventable impaired driving deaths, injuries and crashes.
Among its provisions, it includes provisions to establish a federal rulemaking process to implement advanced impaired driving prevention technology in new vehicles, which could save 9,400 lives annually, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
“This more than 15-year effort to design vehicles that prevent impaired driving is close to reality, and we are proud to champion this historic legislation with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD),” Swonger said, adding:
“The broadly supported Multiple Substance Impaired Driving Prevention Act is also included in the bipartisan infrastructure bill. This legislation will make funding available to states to maximize innovative programs and technology to eliminate multiple substance-impaired driving. Additionally, it will identify, monitor, and treat impaired drivers which is key to preventing recurrence. It directs a GAO study to improve national reporting of impaired driving arrest and citation data into federal databases.
“Driving impaired by one substance is dangerous,” Swonger said, “but combining substances leads to a multiplicative effect on driver impairment and can dramatically increase crash risk. This bill positions states to address impaired driving in all forms, which is vital to address this evolving and growing threat on our roads.
This legislation also improves the ignition interlock incentive grants, maximizing the most effective countermeasures to stop convicted impaired drivers from re-offending, and includes provisions to address cannabis impaired driving and improve drug-impaired driving data collection.
Preliminary data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows the steepest rise in total traffic deaths since 2007, with a 7% increase in 2020 due to impaired driving, speeding, not wearing a seatbelt, and other risky driving behaviors. Additionally, police-reported alcohol-involved fatalities jumped by 9%, and trauma center data from NHTSA shows an increase in serious injuries and deaths involving drivers at high blood alcohol concentration levels and multiple drug combinations.