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New technologies aim to reduce drunk driving

On Behalf of | Jan 12, 2017 | Drunk Driving

Being in an accident or being on the receiving end of a ticket in Lynchburg after drinking and getting behind the wheel can have a profound impact on a person’s life. The repercussions may be serious and a driving under the influence charge can stay on one’s record for a long time. That is why some innovative companies are looking to develop ways that could prevent people from driving if their blood alcohol content is over the legal limit.

One company has invented a wrist band, similar to a fitness tracker, that uses skin sensors to detect alcohol molecules, reports Delish. The wrist band works in conjunction with a person’s smartphone and sends information to an app about a person’s BAC. It can even be linked to another person’s wrist band so that friends can hold each other accountable. It can also provide warnings to let the user know when they have hit a certain BAC.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, researchers in Israel are working on a similar technology, only theirs uses smartphones, fitness trackers and smart watches to monitor a person’s physical behavior rather than his or her BAC. The system tracks body movement to determine someone’s level of intoxication and was found to be 93 percent accurate after tracking only 16 seconds of data.

If this technology is adapted by makers of smartphones and other products, it could be calibrated to work automatically so that people don’t have to remember to activate it when they are drinking. However, this has raised some concerns about privacy and how the data collected could be used should it become accessible to anyone other than the user.

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