Making cars traffic cops

Business Unusual

Could we solve the most common traffic violations by making our vehicles the law enforcer

A TV show from the 90s called Beyond 2000 featured an insert on car technology that as a teenager I thought was a great idea and expected to be seen as standard by the time I was able to drive. A breathalyser built into the car.

To start the car you first needed to blow on the breathalyser. If you passed the car would start, if you failed it would not.

What if you got a passenger to blow for you? What if it was your child? That might work, but why would someone who is not drinking allow you to drive the car when you were over the limit. If you were willing to compel a child to blow on your behalf and then make them travel with you, you had bigger problems than just drink driving.

The makers, figuring that a willing plant at the departure point might blow for you, built in the need to blow again 5 mins into the trip. This also covered the bases for you having left thinking you were still okay only to get worse some time later.

Having the car come to a stop could have been dangerous as this was before GPS was common, so instead it would simply flash the lights in a pattern that could only mean the driver was over the limit.

So what happened to the breathalysers in all the cars?

Audio credit: Beyond 2000

Image credit: Pexels.com

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