Impaired driving remains in the news. It is amazing to me that decades pass, laws pass, and victims pass, but the impaired driver perseveres. While the first DUI arrest was in the 19th century, the real war on DUI started in the late 1970s and became a force in the mid-1980s, according to History.
courtesy https://www.uber.com/ca/en/u/reasons-to-ride/
The efforts and recriminations of course started with drunk drivers. The whole "MADD" movement was focused on DD - Drunk Drivers. But impairment, we know, can come from a variety of chemicals. See Misinformation and Misdirection (July 2024), and the posts cited there. The challenges of pot are discussed in Pot, Impairment, and Car Crashes (July 2017). None of this is new.
In 2022, I noted that impaired driving was destined for the scrap heap of history, along with so many of our challenges. See Safety is Coming (March 2022). Of course, the other coming tools like self-driving cars are of significant import also. Nero May Be Fiddling (April 2017).
Nonetheless, the issue remains. And, the predicted presence of impairment detectors in 2026 vehicles looms over our present (the new model year will begin in 6 months). That is not to say there cannot be some "pause," but as yet . . ..
The news in 2025 has been surprisingly quiet regarding these devices. They are intended to keep your car from functioning if the sensor concludes that you are not functioning. Truth About Cars reported in February 2025 that "kill switches" have been on the mind this year. There is some feeling that a legislative "walkback" may be in the works.
The Truth article provides interesting history on the topic as well as a comparison with the EeeeYew and their conclusions. See also The Eeeeyew Says What (December 2024). The folks across the pond have periodically influenced our decisions and lives.
Despite the European (EU) trend, Truth concludes that "more U.S. legislators are coming out against the premise." Nonetheless, the auto industry is installing cameras to watch us driving and could connect with those cars later to implement an impairment detector process through a software update.
In the midst of this, the New York Legislature is debating whether to make impaired driving a crime there. No, not drunk driving, impaired driving. CBS News reports that a loophole exists in New York.
There, it is illegal to drive drunk. If you have doubts, message Justin Timberlake, and he will explain the law to you. In fact, some believe that New York is a leader in DUI arrests. A 2024 report says there were 22,000 arrests there in one recent year.
The loophole? People charged with "driving while impaired by drugs" see their charges dismissed. In New York, it is not enough that the person driving is impaired, the state has to prove what substance has impaired them. If the state does not figure out what chemical it is and prove that the chemical is on its prohibited list, then the driver "cannot be charged with drugged driving."
This does not make impaired driving legal. It merely makes the enforcement mechanism nearly useless. It works if the vehicle driver names the substance they used or if there is blood testing to make a finding.
Nevertheless, the loophole does make drug-impaired driving all the more dangerous. Whether New York changes its law and prevents further tragedy, there is the potential that the Panic-era federal law on vehicles and detectors will proceed next October and invade all of our privacy. This may disable the impaired driver's car, but will not change the situation with New York's chemical identification requirement.
Does it matter what impairs the driver? Should we treat exhaustion differently from alcohol? Should we treat alcohol differently from drugs? Is impairment alone sufficient?
The conflict between detecting the impaired and invading the privacy of everyone in a car is intriguing and troubling. The idea of drugged driving being excused while drunk driving is prosecuted is the same. The problems are worthy of consideration, but so is the outcome and consequences of bill drafting and clarity.
