What If A Device In Your Car Could Stop You From Drinking And Driving

New findings published in the American Journal of Public Health show that researchers at the University of Michigan Injury Center and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute studied how many lives could be saved if there were alcohol ignition interlock devices in newly purchased vehicles for a 15-year period.

They found that having this device installed could help prevent 85 percent of crash deaths attributable to alcohol-involved motor vehicle crashes throughout the study period or the equivalent of 59,000 deaths in the United States.

"We knew our modeling would yield significant results, but the sheer numbers of preventable fatalities and serious injuries were surprising. Our analysis clearly demonstrates the significant public health benefit and societal cost savings associated with including alcohol ignition interlock devices as standard equipment in all new cars," said lead-author Patrick Carter, M.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the U-M Medical School and core faculty at the U-Michigan Injury Center.

Researchers reassure skeptics that the price of actually installing the devices would be recouped in just about three years after they had gone into effect. In fact, they predict that U.S. society would save around $343 billion within the first 15 years of use.

They found that the benefit was highest for those closest to the legal drinking age and most significant among drivers 21 to 29 years old, preventing 481,103 deaths and injuries prevented, and nearly 35 percent of total deaths and injuries for all age groups. Drivers less than 21 years old who engaged in drinking while driving would also benefit substantially, with 194,886 deaths and injuries potentially prevented.

"It is often difficult to penetrate these age groups with effective public health interventions and policies to prevent drinking and driving," added Carter. "By capitalizing on recent technological advancements that make alcohol-detecting sensors seamless to the driver and applying such technology more broadly to all newly built vehicles, we can actually have a substantial injury prevention impact among traditionally hard-to-reach high-risk populations."

Researchers calculated the number by modeling the proportion of alcohol-related crashes that are preventable for all vehicles less than one year old and then repeating the analysis for each year in a projected 15-year timeframe and determined the cost saving by applying the existing crash-induced injury cost metrics.