Drink drive? You won't be able to!
Motoring Staff
2009-09-03
As part of their efforts to eradicate drunk driving, Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) and Hino Motors, Ltd. (Hino) have announced that they will jointly test a breath-alcohol ignition-interlock system under development by TMC.
The system, aimed to aid companies and organisations to better manage their fleet-vehicle operations, will be installed on selected trucks and other vehicles of Japanese transport companies and tested from September 1 to November 30.
The tests will verify system functionality, particularly ease-of-use in real-world situations. Tests will include drivers conducting self-breath tests before they operate a vehicle and, after vehicle use, fleet administrators monitoring and verifying the test results automatically recorded on the vehicle’s digital tachograph.
The system features a hand-held unit containing both a breathalyzer that can detect alcohol in a small breath sample and a digital camera that photographs the driver’s face for test-taker identification. If the test result is positive, the system either warns the driver or locks the vehicle’s ignition, depending on the level of alcohol detected.
The system thus prevents drivers from operating vehicles in an inebriated state, while follow-up instructions given by fleet administrators aim to further reduce the possibility of alcohol-related traffic accidents.
In conjunction with the tests to be conducted by TMC and Hino, the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism (MLIT) will install the system in a vehicle under lease from TMC and conduct tests during everyday use.
TMC and Hino plan to provide results from the testing to an MLIT council on new technologies to prevent drunk driving, while TMC also intends to apply the test results to improving the system.
