Yesterday, MADD National President Jan Withers visited with members of the United States Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee. We’re happy to announce that the Senate version of the proposed FY 2012 Department of Transportation budget includes funding for advanced alcohol detection research, which promises to one day turn cars into the cure. The measure, approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on September 21st, provides a total of $6 million for the ongoing DADSS (Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety) research program, $5 million above the proposed budget and $4.5 million more than the current fiscal year.
The DADSS program is a key element of MADD's Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving® and is the result of a five-year, $10 million cooperative agreement between the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the world’s leading automakers, working through the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety. The project’s goal is to develop an inexpensive, publicly-supported and extremely accurate technology that passively senses if a driver is at or above the illegal limit of .08 BAC. If the driver is drunk, the DADSS technology would prevent the vehicle from starting.
A big debt of gratitude is owed to Chairman Patty Murray and Ranking Member Susan Collins for including this provision into the proposed transportation bill. To keep informed on legislative happenings like this,subscribe to receive legislative alerts.
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