Friday, March 4, 2011

Should cars have built in breathalyzers

I read an article about the possibility of all cars in the future having breathalyzers. It immediately made me think of the movie "The 40-year-old Virgin". The car scene where the guy and girl get into her car and she's completely smashed, and asked the guy if he'll blow her breathalyzer so her car will start. What if instead of putting a key in the ignition to start our car we had to blow into a breathalyzer? First of all, think about the older generation. My great-grandmother just bought a brand new car and has no idea what any of the buttons are for, like the cd player, oh and On-Star. She pushed the On-Star button and the lady started talking to her and she just laughed and didn't know how to shut it off. I would imagine it would be quite frustrating for the elders. Especially the ones that drink, haha. If everyone had to use breathalyzers that would mean even the people who didn't drink. At first, most people would have older cars with no breathalyzers in it, and I think that people who pride themselves with not drinking, having to use a breathalyzer would be rather embarrassing for them just because not everyone would be up to date on the new technology and they would stand out and look like an alcoholic. The point of having a breathalyzer in everyone's car is obviously to prevent anyone who has been drinking to drive. The benefits of absolutely no drunk drivers on the road would prevent thousands of deaths a year, and it would cause people to think their actions through more carefully. I would assume the alcohol industry would lose some profits over this. I personally don't really know anyone who drinks and drives, maybe 2 people that I can think of, but that would practically force people to have a "designated driver". The most they drink is maybe a couple margaritas at a restaurant and then drive home. One place where a lot of people drink and drive is at professional sporting events, like baseball, football, and soccer games. There might be some angry fans if they can't have a beer at the game. It definitely seems like when I was in my teen years everyone was partying, there was a lot of drinking and driving going on. Teenagers would rather have fun and risk it than be responsible for their actions. Also, teenagers don't really think anything could happen to them until it does. Then again some people never grow up. I think for teens it would be extremely beneficial to have breathalyzers, just to get it through their head that drinking and driving is not tolerable, and also for people who have a record of DUI's and DWI. As for the rest of us, I don't think its completely necessary.

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