Drinking and driving is a very serious problem across the country. It is not something that should be taken lightly, and there are many people who justly have very strong feelings on the matter. Many of these people unfortunately may be those who have lost someone or were otherwise involved in a collision or incident as the result of a drunk driver. But whatever your connections or sentiments on the issue may be, one thing can easily be agreed upon, and that is the fact that intoxicated individuals do not belong behind the wheel of a car.
Building a better system
Some people are irresponsible, careless, or thoughtless, and these characteristics lead them to the misguided decision to drive while intoxicated. Some people have a drinking problem that they may or may not be fighting to overcome. But many drunk drivers are not bad people. They had a lapse in judgement, which, when you think about it, is not all that surprising considering the effects that alcohol has on the brain. Most people don’t even notice that they are drunk until they are quite intoxicated. So a lot of times, someone with a slight buzz may not even stop to consider that they are now impaired, and those who do will often have a skewed understanding of just how tipsy they really are. All that considered, it starts to become pretty clear to see just why the problem of drinking and driving is such a prevalent one.
Everyone has a duty to hold themselves responsible and to act appropriately in potentially disastrous situations. If you think that you might have a drink, hand your keys off to someone else. Walk to the bar or plan on getting a taxi. There are ways to set yourself up for success instead of trouble. But there is another system that is gaining popularity lately, that can help with those important decisions, and it comes in the form of a discreet breathalyzer for your car.
Why would I get a car breathalyzer?
Each and every day across the country, there are 28 more people who are killed because someone chose to get behind the wheel of a vehicle while they were intoxicated. How do we put a stop to this? There are public service announcements, educational ads, classes, and meetings, and the threat of jail time and fines if you are caught drunk driving, not to mention the risk of injury or death at your own hands. But the problem persists. This is where the discreet breathalyzer for your car comes into play.
Across the country, in the 150,000 cars of multiple DUI offenders, there are ignition interlock devices that check the blood alcohol content of the driver before permitting the car to be turned on. These discreet breathalyzers are ideal for those who have had trouble in the past with making the right decision about driving after partaking of alcoholic beverages.
So what exactly is an ignition interlock system?
When a driver gets into the car, they will be prompted to blow into the breathalyzer, which will then determine if they have been drinking. The blood alcohol levels that are permitted in order to start the car are set ahead of time, but especially in the cases of those with prior DUI convictions, the allowable level is quite a bit lower than the legal limit, often times around 0.02. And in order to monitor and discourage the consumption of alcohol after the test has been administered and the car has been started, the device will likely alert you that it is time for your rolling retest, which could happen anywhere between five or 15 minutes after the ignition has been started. If you do not retest, or if you have had a drink and the machine determines you are over the limit, there will likely be some sort of alarm that will encourage you to pull over.
The success of the discreet breathalyzer is already prompting more installations in more cars. It seems that even after the removal of the device, people have gotten into the habit of pausing to truly assess the situation before getting behind the wheel to endanger themselves and others.
canada goose deutschland canada goose deutschland canada goose deutschland