Nissan Motor Company, Ltd. in Japan has announced it will begin testing a new technology designed to prevent drunk driving. The test program will be held in cooperation with local authorities in Japan. Nissan is actively engaged in developing a wide range of technologies to improve road safety through the prevention of drunk driving. Nissan will test a new on-board Breathalyzer system that can detect the alcohol level on a driver's breath.
If the system detects the presence of alcohol above the specified level, the ignition will be disabled through an "interlock" mechanism. The system will be installed on daily-operating vehicles where the drivers will monitor various factors such as functionality and alcohol-detection reliability. Nissan will use these test results to further its research and development in preventive drunk driving technology.
The company's safety goal is to cut in half the number of traffic fatalities or serious injuries involving Nissan vehicles (compared with the level in 1995) by 2015.
