Help Eliminate Impaired Driving Now

Background: On March 5 at 11:59 p.m., the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will close a public comment period on how advanced technology will be built into all new vehicles to prevent drunk and impaired driving. In 2021, victims and survivors successfully advocated for a new federal law, the Honoring the Abbas Family Legacy to Terminate (HALT) Drunk Driving Act, which when fully implemented will save more than 10,000 lives per year and prevent hundreds of thousands of injuries.

What is the HALT Act and what is this public comment about? The HALT Act ensures all new vehicles – as early as 2026 – are equipped with passive impaired driving prevention technology to prevent drunk and impaired driving. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, this requirement will save over 10,000 lives each year when implemented in all new cars. The HALT Act is needed now more than ever, as alcohol-related traffic deaths have risen by double-digits in recent years. For more information on the HALT Act, please visit madd.org/haltact.

On this page, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has created an easy way for you to make your voice heard to help save 10,000 lives a year! Please feel free to submit the MADD form letter as is or personalize it.

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NHTSA-2022-0079-0015 Advanced Impaired Driv...

Our nation is experiencing unprecedented increases in drunk and impaired driving and the auto industry has technology to eliminate this public health crises. I urge the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to create a vehicle safety standard as required by the bipartisan HALT Act law to immediately implement advanced impaired driving prevention technology on all new vehicles.

According to NHTSA, since 2019 drunk driving deaths have increased 31% resulting in over 13,300 fatalities in 2021. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates that advanced impaired driving prevention technology will save 10,000 lives every year when fully implemented.

Technology is available now to passively and unobtrusively prevent the crime of drunk driving before it even occurs. The majority of the public supports requiring this technology on all new vehicles.

A 2023 report by Johns Hopkins University published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that two-thirds of the public agrees that vehicle impairment prevention technology should be available on all new vehicles. Nearly the same percentage supports the requirement for this technology as mandated by the HALT Act law.

The CEO of General Motors, Mary Barra, agrees that advanced impaired driving prevention technology is ready to deploy, recently stating “we’ve been working with regulators on that…We have technology to do that…I think that’s technology that’s coming that I think’s going to be good for everyone.”

Please implement the bipartisan HALT Act law as soon as possible. Every moment of delay means more serious injuries and lives lost due to this 100% preventable crime.