A new bill, introduced in the U.S. Senate in February by New York Senator Charles "Chuck" Schumer, would put $12 million in annual funding for five years into the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety program.

According to the Indiana Beverage Journal, Shumer's proposed addition to the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010 would eventually lead to every motorist in America being subjected to automatic alcohol testing before turning his or her engine on. The journal reports that according to Schumer's bill, alcohol detection devices would become standard in all automobiles within five to ten years.

Senator Schumer's web page, on the other hand, claims, "...this legislation does not require this technology to be installed in any car..." 

In any event, restaurant groups agree that if the devices were installed, they would probably be set, for liability reasons, below the legal blood-alcohol limit of .08. Furthermore, the American Beverage Institute (ABI) points out in a recent web article that "even if these new devices were 99.99966% effective (and that's a big 'if'), there would still be almost 4,000 cases of misreadings per day."

The money, according to Senator Schumer in a Buffalo News report of July 8th,  "...would be used to develop better technologies--such as a steering wheel that determined blood alcohol content from the sweat of a driver's hands..." and contrasted this with Breathalyzers now used which "...can be circumvented, such as by having the passenger blow into the machine." People concerned about how taxpayers' money is being used might fairly ask whether such a steering wheel technology, even if it were perfectly accurate, could not also be circumvented, perhaps simply by the use of gloves.

The web site Washingtonwatch.com recently conducted an e-poll that showed 76% opposition to the Act. They also estimated the cost of the Act would be $38.31 per family.

And of course, we have to wonder whether this kind of study will, in fact, take us down the road toward the point where all drivers are subjected to these costly and invasive "protections." The National Motorists Association discusses ignition interlock devices here.

Concerned citizens may express their views to Senator Schumer through his web site, or to their own U.S. Senators, listed here.