Motorists who flout the law by driving home after a few drinks will soon be up against a formidable foe: their cars.
Toyota is working on a system of sensors that will automatically shut down a car’s engine if it thinks the person behind the wheel has had too much to drink.
Cars will use sensors on the steering wheel to measure the alcohol level in the driver’s sweat, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported. If it is too high, the car will not start.
The Japanese carmaker will introduce the gadget as an optional extra at the end of 2009 but hopes to install it in all models once the price has come down, the newspaper said.
The system differs from other technological attempts to stamp out drunken driving because it removes the initiative from the driver.
Even if a determined driver gets past the first obstacle by, say, wearing gloves, he could still find himself walking home: Toyota’s device will slow the car to a halt if the sensors detect erratic steering or if a camera mounted on the dashboard sees that the driver’s pupils are dilated — a sign of being over the limit.
General Motors in the United States is also working on new technology to counter drunken driving, and Nissan is experimenting with a device similar to a breathalyser that the driver must blow into before being able to start the car. If a high level of alcohol is detected, the engine is disabled.
Other Japanese firms have joined a recent campaign against drunken driving that followed a string of fatal accidents. In the worst incident a drunk driver ploughed into a car carrying a family of five and knocked it off a bridge into the bay below, killing three children aged under five.
The cellphone carrier KDDI has developed the Alc-Mobile, a cellphone fitted with a breathalyser that enables taxi and bus companies to check their drivers’ blood-alcohol levels before they go on duty.
After the driver blows into a tube the results are sent automatically to the company’s headquarters, along with the driver’s picture and location, via a satellite-based global positioning system.
The most recent official figures show that more than 700 Japanese people died in 14 000 drunken-driving incidents in 2005.
The police agency will submit a Bill later this month calling on Parliament to increase the maximum prison sentence for drunken driving from three to five years and to double the heaviest possible fine to one million yen (about R57 000).
New penalties would also apply to people who encourage others to drink knowing that they plan to drive later.
A recent increase in spot checks saw alcohol sales in Japan fall rapidly towards the end of last year, with pubs and bars reporting a drop of 4,6%.
Major brewers are running poster campaigns urging people not to drink and drive, and over the New Year holiday many revellers found that their local Shinto shrines had decided not to serve traditional offerings of sake. — Guardian Unlimited Â