Fairfield Students Learn About New Technology To Thwart Drunk Driving

FAIRFIELD, CT — With prom season upon us, Fairfield Ludlowe High School students over the past two weeks have been learning about the dangers of drunk driving, with a series of events designed to showcase different aspects of intoxicated driving and its often tragic consequences.

Students viewed the aftermath of a drunk driving crash, with members of the Fairfield police and fire departments, representatives from Bridgeport Hospital and the Lesko Funeral Home, and American Medical Rescue ambulance EMTs "treating" students in bloody makeup.

Also, members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Students Against Drunk Driving gave presentations on the dangers of drunk driving, and some students dressed as Grim Reapers to "remove" some students from classrooms to show what it is like to lose a loved one in a drunk driving crash.

"Every year, about 110 people die in car accidents in Connecticut," a school district spokesperson told Patch. "For the senior pre-prom presentation, we have a student dress up as the Grim Reaper. This individual goes into senior classes and calls random students to follow them to the hallway. While they are out in the hallway putting on a black shirt that represents death, and not speaking the rest of the day, another student goes into class and reads their obituary. At the end of period 2, the remaining seniors go to the auditorium. We then usher the other 1/3 of the class that 'passed away,' so that they actually realize how many people die every year due to drinking and driving."

And in an effort to showcase emerging technology in the fight against drunk driving, students viewed a vehicle outfitted with a sophisticated detection system to prevent a vehicle from being driven by an intoxicated individual.

The state Department of Transportation tricked out a Ford Mustang Mach-E with the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS system), in which a driver turns on the car and gently breathes toward a device embedded behind the steering wheel. If the DADSS device detects that the driver's breath is below the legal alcohol content limit of .08, the car can be driven.

If the system detects that the alcohol limit is above the legal limit, the car will not move. Functions such as the radio and the heating and cooling system will be operable, but the car cannot be driven.

Creators of the DADSS system hope to see car manufacturers offer the detectors in new vehicles in the near future, with a version that drivers don't have to breathe into, but instead will detect the presence of alcohol through normal breathing inside the vehicle.