Soon your car won't let you drink. But it won't care if you're on the phone

So I use some Listerine just before my date, go into the car, and it refuses to start for me (the MythBusters showed using alcoholic mouthwash screws up breathalyzers). What if I'd taken NyQuil (which has alcohol in it, too)?

Slippery Slope Indeed....

While I think it's an interesting concept, there's the law of unintended consequences as well as human inanity.

Mouthwash, possibly aftershaves, perfumes... lots of products with alcohol in them. How does the car know that driver is sober if they're the designated driver with a load of drunken friends? The skin sensor tech is problem with gloves and some skin conditions.

Let's not forget that impaired drivers are not always using alcohol... there's assorted legal and illegal pharmaceuticals that are just as bad as alcohol.

The human inanity part is politicos... you trip the sensors, the plod gets sent for your "intending to drive while intoxicated". Your insurance company will be notified. Maybe others.

It might be better to just push on the autonomous cars although I'm not fond of that idea either since they can monitored and abused by "security" and LEA's.

Common sense

If I don't know whether I've drunk too much to drive then I have.

The penalties for driving just a little over the limit are such that it isn't worth the risk for me (so in my case they are set just right)

The problem that these breathalysers may have is if this robot overlord allows me to drive when I'm positively blotto then who is responsible ?

Presumably that would still be me (as I'm in control of the car) but do I have the right to claim compensation (and a 24/7 chauffer) when the gizmo gets it wrong.

I think I'll stick to the one pint limit.

yay more added costs for items that will fail.

Calibration?

I have no idea how often the intoximeters at the local cop shop need calibrating, but I suspect it's fairly regularly. Who picks up the tab for the calibration of these units? I'm guessing it won't be those that have your (and other people's) welfare at heart, yet more expense for the motorist.

Wake me up when my car can warn me about a stray hair

All this alcohol sensing is well and good, but as the years roll on, my main need of an intelligent car is simply to tell me when I am in danger of leaving said vehicle with an embarrassing stray hair coming out of my nose, ear, or other odd place.

When such a capability arises, I wish also that it is not too cruel about the warning. It must be a perfect simulation of the personal valet from the late 18th century.

I reach for the door...

"Sir... Would now be a good time to look in the rear-view mirror and check for misplaced threads?"

I really don't think that works, so I would need the developers to do a bit more research into how to convey the information a lot more successfully, so that I feel like a god rather than an ageing ape.

Huh. I doubt this will be ever mandatory. So how does that work with diabetics? Where screwed up blood sugar levels CAN register as a high BAC.

engineered cabin air flow

WTF is that? Can it cope with open windows? Close all windows before clicking start?

So

Dust masks and gloves, soon to be illegal.

Besides using aftershave...

...I also keep Alcogel in my car. My first mental image: check tyre pressure - get hands a bit dirty - clean up - touch the smart gear level or key fob or steering wheel - the car refuses to start...

So, just open the window, or wear gloves while changing gear will no doubt fool the system. All you have to do is change the air flow in the cabin. Presumably you could also just block the sensor so its only reading the air a few cm in front of it.

“Instead, DADSS will simply stop many responsible social drinkers who have a glass of wine with dinner from starting their cars”.

It's the social drinking class that cant stop at "just the one" and have a "one for the road" to take them over and crash.

Others get caught "morning after" which gets the heavier drinkers.

Most are caught by being in an accident that was not their fault, but the fact they are over makes it their fault

The law states how much alcohol impairs you, not how many pints you had / didn't have.

You cant measure it by pints drunk or wine glasses, it's only a rule of thumb.

Technological solution to a social problem

Those rarely work. In Central Europe (Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, somewhere else but don't recall where) the limit is simply zero for everyone, and drunk driving is considered socially unacceptable, so people just don't do it.

In more individualistic societies people seem to think it's their right to drive in an altered state, which is a bit sad since roads are a public space. Perhaps that's where inventors of technological solutions see a market, seeing as there isn't one where your friends, landlord, and general public will object to your drinking and driving in the first place.

How much is a life worth, a small inconvience is worth the new technology if implimented right, cell phone usage in a car is a big problem but not a reason to stop other problems

I predict ...

A court case where the driver gets off because they "couldn't possibility be drunk behind the wheel, my car allowed me to drive."

Leaves me the only Option

I the car won't budge due to my alcohol intake then this will leave only one other option to get high: drugs.

What do you prefer a drunken driver or a high driver?

Isn't this technology already around? I know that around here they will sometimes require habitual drunk drivers to get a device in their car that requires them to pass a breathalyzer test before the car will start. It's been around for years. It doesn't get used terribly often because it's a whole lot cheaper to just revoke their licenses, but every once in a while they do it.

Nice idea

... but why not make it some kind of Alertness Tester. It seems we think any alcohol is a sin, but tolerate fatigue or any other number of conditions that make you less than a thinking driver with adequate reactions.

Perhaps a simple reaction test with a hard pass limit and also a soft limit (so if you are MUCH slower than you usually are, that's probably a bad sign). Or it can analyze driving inputs - if you are clearly weaving with no reason to be, the car can be stopped.

Mobiles vs alcohol

If something deserves your attention, it is much quicker to stop using a phone than to sober up.