In a landmark safety mandate, it will now be mandatory for every car in the US to have an alcohol detection system.?
The move is aimed at preventing intoxicated drivers from starting vehicles and in the process averting more than 10,000 deaths annually, CBS Boston reported.?
The new law was introduced on Tuesday when President Joe Biden signed the infrastructure bill that requires new cars have the systems installed as standard equipment.? ?
Many people have been advocating for such anti-drunk-driving measures for years now.?Sarah Carmichael, who happens to be a victim, has been a vocal supporter for all other victims and along with the anti-drunk-driving advocacy group, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), have been urging the federal legislation to make alcohol detection systems mandatory in all vehicles, as per CBS Boston.?
She explains how a crash in February 2008 changed her life forever. She was stopped at a light in Framingham when she was hit by a drunk driver.
Speaking to CBS Boston, she said, "I was in a medically induced coma for about 10 days."
"C1 and C2 vertebrae in my neck were fractured as well as the base of my skull, both sides of my collarbone, 11 of my ribs, my pelvis was shattered,¡± she told WBZ-TV¡¯s I-Team. ¡°Doctors prepared my family that I was not going to live.¡±
It took her years to recover.
Alex Otte, national president of MADD said, "I'm crying tears of joy today."
"This is the beginning of the end of drunk driving," she wrote in a statement after Biden's law signing ceremony Monday at the White House.
The bill would require the US Transportation Department to set a technology safety standard within three years - and then give automakers at least another two years to comply - as long as new requirements are "reasonable, practicable, and appropriate,"?Reuters reported.?
The bill said if regulators do not finalize new safety rules within 10 years, the department must report to Congress.??
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