Senators look to halt drunk driving deaths

Members of Congress and activists who want to put an end to drunk driving join forces on...
Members of Congress and activists who want to put an end to drunk driving join forces on Capitol Hill Wednesday. This group is supporting a bill that would mandate advanced technology in all new cars to stop impaired drivers from being able to get on the road. (Source: GrayDC)(GRAYDC)
Published: Oct. 16, 2019 at 4:24 PM EDT

Halting drunk driving in its tracks: that’s the goal of a bipartisan group of Senators, who hope to prevent thousands of deaths each year.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) says each year, an estimated 11,000 people die in the US at the hands of drunk drivers, making it the most lethal threat on our roads.

Wednesday on Capitol Hill, Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott joined Democratic colleagues, like New Mexico Democratic Senator Tom Udall, and grieving families, to support a new bill.

The legislation would fund research and development of advanced technology so impaired drivers would not be able to start their cars and endanger their own lives and others.

“While there’s nothing we can do to bring back all the victims of drunk driving, there is something we can do in Washington today to try to prevent it from happening in the future," said Scott.

The new bill is called the RIDE Act. If passed, it would mandate that in a few years, all new cars would need to automatically install these tools to prevent drunk driving.

There’s also similar legislation in the U.S. House, put forward by Democratic Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell, to advance this regulation idea.