Gps Breathalyzers – The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

The question when leaving a party, a bar, or a nightclub can be asked if you have had too much to drink and are therefore unfit to drive.

Impaired driving is so often an issue and there are rarely instances that do not end in an accident, and a loss of life.

These issues could be resolved by a new addition to the automotive GPS device. Two manufacturers have created a new addition in their GPS devices that can test for high blood alcohol levels. GPS manufacturer from Portuguese, Ndrive, now offers the G400, while Italian manufacturer, AvMap, brings you the Geosat 6 Drive Safe GPS device with a built in breathalyzer device. However, the implications that come with this new gadget are abound, and sometimes frightening.

You will also find that these GPS breathalyzers offer a variety of benefits as well which include; hands free phone dialing, games, touch screens, and other applications. Keep in mind though they are only being promoted as a help to resolving accidents which are created by alcohol. So is it going to work? If the intent was to decrease the number of alcohol induced automobile accidents and deaths, then it is flawed. Logic would dictate that a person that is too impaired to drive is not even going to bother using the device as proposed. A person with the clarity of mind to use the device will likely have a designated driver, or know to call a cab. Aside from the logical aspects of function and use, there is also the issue with reliable results. Proper breathalyzer tests function on the premise of breathing into an infrared spectroscope that must be calibrated for climate and uses a different IS system. This IS system can cause false positives, which is something to take into consideration.

The concept of this device is sound, however, the function leaves something to be seen.

The sensor device on the Ndrive G400 is smaller then the spectroscope used by law enforcement, which can also narrow the accuracy of the reading.

The sensor on the AvMap Geosat 6 Drive Safe is in the upper right hand corner and is rather innocuous in appearance.

You would almost overlook it if you were sober. Considering the levels of intoxication that qualifies for “too impaired to drive”, that may not have been the best choice in the design.

In the end we do believe that GPS breathalyzers can be a huge help in the future. However, right now the plan was not fully thought out before they manufactured them. Sure we are told that they are fully capable of having great accuracy, but self calibration and human element are a major factor. So, the person is purchasing this for themselves in order to be safe on the road. Well, if you already know that this is a problem, GPS breathalyzers are not going to solve it. After all, how many times do you think police officers have heard about how people aren't intoxicated when they are? Do you really think people are going to want to argue with GPS breathalyzers? If so, we could definitely get some entertainment from that on

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The article is by Robin Saunders, an accomplished writer that has been reporting about various subjects such as alcohol, breathalyzers , DUI etc.

The author uses an Alcohawk himself and it's time that you own one too.

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