{"id":32495,"date":"2026-05-05T09:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T09:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/32495\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T09:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T09:45:09","slug":"advocates-call-on-ottawa-to-commit-to-mandatory-anti-drunk-driving-technology-in-new-vehicles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/32495\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocates call on Ottawa to commit to mandatory anti-drunk-driving technology in new vehicles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Built-in technology to detect when a driver is drunk would be a \u2018game-changer,\u2019 said Tanya Hansen Pratt, national president of MADD Canada.EDUARDO LIMA\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Anti-drunk-driving advocates are calling on the federal government to pledge to eventually require all new vehicles to come equipped with technology that would prevent impaired driving. <\/p>\n

Representatives of Mothers Against Drunk Driving are meeting this week with government officials, including Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, seeking a commitment that Ottawa will make alcohol-detection systems mandatory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a game-changer,\u201d said Tanya Hansen Pratt, national president of MADD Canada, whose mother was killed by an impaired driver in 1999. \u201cWe\u2019ve been fighting for decades to get people to change their behaviour, but now we\u2019re facing a world where we can have technology change their behaviour for us.\u201d <\/p>\n

The built-in technology \u2013 which is still being developed \u2013 would automatically detect when motorists are drunk and prevent or limit their cars\u2019 operation. <\/p>\n

Options include sensors that measure drivers\u2019 alcohol levels through their breath and fingertips, as well as scanners that assess impairment through eye and head movements. Unlike breathalyzers, the devices work passively in the background and would not require any action by motorists. <\/p>\n

Opinion: To improve road safety, the U.S. should be more like Canada<\/a><\/p>\n

Advocates say such innovations represent a promising frontier to combat the persistent problem of drunk driving by using non-intrusive technology to prevent intoxicated people from taking the wheel, rather than relying on police to catch impaired motorists. Drunk driving is a leading cause of road deaths in Canada, killing 521 people in 2022. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo make progress in road safety, we really have to be open to the use of technologies to find ways to do more, to do better and to not task \u2026 officers with duties which can be done more efficiently by other means,\u201d said Robyn Robertson, president and chief executive of the Ottawa-based Traffic Injury Research Foundation. <\/p>\n

However, detractors have raised privacy concerns about data collection and the potential for surveillance, as well as questions about accuracy and error rates that could incorrectly prevent sober drivers from operating their vehicles or fail to detect impaired motorists. <\/p>\n

In the United States, a 2021 federal law mandated the development of a regulatory safety standard for passive impaired-driving technology and anticipated that car and truck manufacturers would be required to roll out in-vehicle systems by as early as this year. <\/p>\n

But the technology is still undergoing testing and is not ready for public use, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a February report to Congress. <\/p>\n

\u201cNonetheless, NHTSA believes such technology, when mature, will have a dramatic impact on road safety and combatting the scourge of impaired driving,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n

Opponents are working to repeal or otherwise counter the law. An amendment to block spending on developing the regulatory standard failed in January. Thomas Massie, the Republican congressman who sponsored the move, calls the technology \u201ckill switches\u201d that are part of an \u201cOrwellian mandate.\u201d Experts have said such claims are inaccurate. <\/p>\n

Opinion: We take our right to drive seriously, but not the dangers of driving<\/a><\/p>\n

Given the uncertainty in the U.S., MADD Canada says it is essential that the federal government make a commitment to require the auto industry to install impairment-detection devices in new vehicles sold in this country once the technology is ready. The group is also calling on politicians to ensure Transport Canada has funding and political support for this work. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe know this is going to take time,\u201d Ms. Hansen Pratt said. \u201cIt has to be done correctly.\u201d <\/p>\n

A group of MADD representatives met with Mr. Anandasangaree on Monday and are scheduled to meet with other government officials and opposition politicians on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Simon Lafortune, a spokesman for Mr. Anandasangaree, said the minister emphasized that impaired driving \u201cremains a serious public safety issue.\u201d Mr. Lafortune added that Transport Canada handles decisions on vehicle standards and regulatory requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to work closely with our colleagues as they assess emerging technologies, including their effectiveness and readiness for broader implementation,\u201d he said in an e-mail.<\/p>\n

David Adams, president and CEO of Global Automakers of Canada, which represents Toyota, Honda and several other international brands, said manufacturers are dedicated to making vehicles safer while balancing affordability concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy and large, Canada tends to follow what the U.S. is doing. So I think we probably won\u2019t make a ton of progress in Canada until the U.S. proceeds along,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Technology under development for potential installation in new vehicles includes passive breath and touch sensors developed by the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety program, which the NHTSA set up in 2008 as a public-private partnership with the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety. <\/p>\n

Breath sensors, which are designed to distinguish between drivers and passengers, use infrared light to measure the concentrations of alcohol and carbon dioxide in natural exhaled breath near the steering wheel. Touch sensors analyze blood alcohol levels under the skin\u2019s surface using infrared light through the driver\u2019s fingertips or palms and could be placed on the start button or steering wheel.<\/p>\n

The devices are non-intrusive, unlike ignition interlock devices. The vehicle-mounted breathalyzers prevent a car from starting if the driver\u2019s breath alcohol level exceeds a preset limit. They are typically required as part of sentences for people convicted of drunk driving. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Built-in technology to detect when a driver is drunk would be a \u2018game-changer,\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,61,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-32495","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-northwest-territories","38":"tag-nova-scotia","39":"tag-nunavut","40":"tag-ontario","41":"tag-ottawa","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}