It is part of the newly passed infrastructure bill.
Congress has tasked automakers with finding a high-tech way to keep drunken people from driving cars. Under the newly passed legislation, monitoring systems to stop intoxicated drivers would roll out in all new vehicles as early as 2026 after the Department of Transportation assesses the best form of technology to install in millions of vehicles and automakers are given time to comply.
The new requirement is one of the mandates—along with a host of new spending aimed at improving auto safety amid escalating highway fatalities—in the $1 trillion infrastructure package that President Biden said he will sign sometime soon.
About $17 billion in the infrastructure package is allocated to road safety programs, the largest increase in such funding in decades. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that could mean more protected bicycle paths and greener spaces built into busy roadways.
Still, safety advocates are concerned that the bipartisan bill missed opportunities to address more forcefully an emerging U.S. crisis of road fatalities and urged the Transportation Department to deliver immediate solutions.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For Secretary Buttigieg as he heads the Transportation Department.
- For department officials as they implement infrastructure programs and allot funding.
- For those who will administer the improvements to America’s highways, bridges, and transportation systems being provided in the infrastructure legislation.
Sources: NPR, Newsmax
