I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2324 

To prevent drunk driving injuries and fatalities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 23, 2011 

Mrs. CAPITO (for herself, Mr. SHULER, and Mr. SARBANES) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation 

and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To prevent drunk driving injuries and fatalities, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Research of Alcohol 

5 Detection Systems for Stopping Alcohol-related Fatalities 

6 Everywhere Act of 2011’’ or the ‘‘ROADS SAFE Act of 

7 2011’’. 

8 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

9 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Alcohol-impaired driving fatalities represent 

approximately 1 2 ⁄3 of all highway fatalities in the 

3 United States in a given year. 

4 (2) In 2009, there were 10,839 alcohol-im5 paired driving fatalities. 

6 (3) An estimated 9,000 road traffic deaths 

7 could be prevented every year if alcohol detection 

8 technologies were more widely used to prevent alco9 hol-impaired drivers from operating their vehicles. 

10 (4) The National Highway Traffic Safety Ad11 ministration has partnered with automobile manu12 facturers to develop alcohol detection technologies 

13 that could be installed in vehicles to prevent drunk 

14 driving. 

15 (5) Alcohol detection technologies will not be 

16 widely accepted by the public unless they are mod17 erately priced, absolutely reliable, and set at a level 

18 that would not prevent a driver whose blood alcohol 

19 content is less than the legal limit from operating a 

20 vehicle. 

21 SEC. 3. DRIVER ALCOHOL DETECTION SYSTEM FOR SAFETY 

22 RESEARCH. 

23 Section 410 of title 23, United States Code, is 

24 amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating subsections (h) and (i) as 

2 subsections (i) and (j), respectively; 

3 (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(h) DRIVER ALCOHOL DETECTION SYSTEM.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 

7 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 

8 shall carry out a collaborative research effort under 

9 chapter 301 of title 49 to continue to explore the 

10 feasibility and the potential benefits of, and the pub11 lic policy challenges associated with, more wide12 spread deployment of in-vehicle technology to pre13 vent alcohol-impaired driving. 

14 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—The Administrator shall annu15 ally submit a report to the Committee on Commerce, 

16 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the 

17 Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 

18 of Representatives that— 

19 ‘‘(A) describes progress in carrying out the 

20 collaborative research effort; and 

21 ‘‘(B) includes an accounting of the use of 

22 Federal funds obligated or expended in carrying 

23 out that effort. 

24 ‘‘(3) APPLICATION WITH OTHER LAWS.—Noth25 ing in this subsection may be construed to modify or 


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1 otherwise affect any Federal, State, or local govern2 ment law (civil or criminal), with respect to the op3 eration of a motor vehicle. 

4 ‘‘(4) FUNDING.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 

6 other provision of law, $12,000,000 of any 

7 amounts made available to the Secretary under 

8 section 406 for each of the fiscal years 2012 

9 through 2016 shall be made available to carry 

10 out this subsection in place of any other 

11 amounts that are otherwise available to carry 

12 out this section. 

13 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—No amount of funding 

14 shall be made available under this paragraph 

15 for any fiscal year in which no funds are made 

16 available to carry out any program authorized 

17 under section 406.’’; and 

18 (3) in subsection (j), as redesignated— 

19 (A) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 

20 paragraph (7); 

21 (B) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 

22 paragraph (3); 

23 (C) by redesignating paragraphs (4) and 

24 (5) as paragraphs (5) and (4), respectively; 


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1 (D) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘(2) ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED DRIVING.—The term 

4 ‘alcohol-impaired driving’ means operation of a 

5 motor vehicle (as defined in section 30102(a)(6) of 

6 title 49) by an individual whose blood alcohol con7 tent is at or above the legal limit.’’; and 

8 (E) by inserting after paragraph (5), as re9 designated, the following: 

10 ‘‘(6) LEGAL LIMIT.—The term ‘legal limit’ 

11 means a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent 

12 or greater (as specified by chapter 163 of this title) 

13 or such other percentage limitation as may be estab14 lished by applicable Federal, State, or local law.’’. 

Æ 


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