Nov. 15, 2024, was the date by which the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) was to have established a national safety standard for vehicle manufacturers to install passive impaired driving detection systems in new vehicles. That date came and went, and no standard was adopted. But deaths from drunk driving keep going up.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that there were 13,524 alcohol-impaired driving fatalities in 2022, the second year in a row this number exceeded 13,000. According to a MADD press release, the last time impaired driving deaths exceeded 13,000 was in 2007. If ever there was a time for impairment detection technology, this seems to be that time.