This invention relates to a system and method that can quickly and accurately determine the presence of ethyl alcohol (ethanol) in the blood of a driver of a motorized vehicle and accurately measure the concentration of the ethanol transdermally and non-invasively within minutes of ethanol consumption and in the presence of interferents. The system, which uses an array of sensors embedded into the steering mechanism of a motorized vehicle, a pattern recognition library, and associated pattern recognition, analyte identification and interferent discrimination algorithms, to ascertain the presence of ethanol in a driver's blood by measuring a driver's transdermal alcohol concentration. If the measured ethanol exceeds a preset limit, interlock systems are activated which prevent movement of the vehicle.
Driving under the influence of alcohol has been and continues to be the number one cause in fatal automobile accidents in the United States. While progress has been made over the last few decades in preventing drunk drivers (or alcohol impaired drivers) from operating automobiles, the problem persists and accidents involving drunk drivers kill on average 36 people and injure 700 people everyday. However, with the right technology, most if not all of these deaths and injuries caused by drunk drivers could be prevented.
Breathalyzer systems are the primary means currently available to combat alcohol impaired driving. However, as breathalyzer systems are typically conspicuous, cumbersome and very intrusive to a driver, breathalyzer systems have very low compliance rates from the driving under the influence (“DUI”) offenders who have received a mandate to use them. What is needed is an in-vehicle alcohol detection system that is non-intrusive to the extent that its utilization is seamless with the driving task.
Many other systems have been devised to attempt to gauge the impairment of a driver before or during the driver's operation of a vehicle and combat drunk driving. Some systems have attempted to directly measure a driver's impairment by requiring the driver to push buttons in a random order within a given amount of time. Other systems have attempted to determine the driver's blood alcohol concentration by measuring tissue alcohol concentration or breathe alcohol concentration. However, the complexity, expense and intrusiveness of these systems typically make them impractical for widespread usage and compliance. In addition, the accuracy of many devices in the prior art is greatly reduced when various interferents (substances other than ethanol) are present. These interferents such as butane, gasoline, perfume or alcohol based products may mark or confuse prior art sensors to indicate a false positive or fail to indicate a masked ethanol presence. What is needed is a system that provides a quick and accurate determination of ethanol in a driver's blood, provides the determination non-invasively and in the presence of any interferents, and is practical for widespread use.