In a million years I could never have imagined myself writing a laudatory column about Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell. I’ve long perceived Dingell as a distinguished member of Michigan’s sizeable cadre of ineffective and compromised pols, and her close association with Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the proud recipient of the “2023 Antisemite of the Year,” is cause for concern. For all Dingell’s feigned commitment to affordable and quality healthcare, she didn’t oppose the takeover of a troubled hospital serving her district – a buyout that hasn’t served Dingell’s constituents well.
However, Dingell’s efforts to curb drunk driving in America and save tens of thousands of lives is worthy of a shout out and support, as is her commitment to make good on a promise she made to constituents in a community where an entire family was wiped out because of a drunk driver. Kudos to Liam Rappleye, a University of Michigan senior interning at the Detroit Free Press, for calling attention to Dingell’s legislation.
In 2021, Dingell, along with David McKinley (R-West Virginia) and Kathleen Rice (D-New York), introduced the Honoring Abbas Family Legacy to Terminate Drunk Driving Act, also known as the HALT act, which mandated that all new vehicles sold in America come equipped with technology that can detect drunk drivers and prevent them from starting the car or truck. The HALT provisions were included in the bipartisan infrastructure legislation that Congress passed.
The legislation was named in memory of Rima Abbas, 38, Rima’s high school sweetheart, Issam Abbas, 42, and their three children — Ali, 13; Isabelle, 12; and Giselle, 7 — who were killed in 2019 after being struck head-on by a drunken driver on Interstate 75 in Kentucky while driving home to Michigan from Florida. The Abbas family funeral was attended by some 7,000 people, including Dingell, who knew the family well.
“There were children from Northville, (where the kids) went to school, who looked at me and they said, they were crying, they were sobbing, and they said, ‘Technology exists that could have prevented this, why isn’t somebody doing something about it?'” Dingell told the Free Press. “So I looked those kids in the eye and said, ‘I make you a promise. I’m going to do that.”
The next day, Dingell called auto manufacturers and told them, “We’re going to do this,” she said.
“I kept my word to these kids who were classmates to their friends who are never coming back,” Dingell said. “And I’m going to keep keeping my word. If I can save one more life, isn’t it worth it?”
In 2022, more than 13,000 people were killed in incidents related to drunken driving, according to federal statistics cited by the Free Press. The devastating impact of drunk driving deaths is a significant multiple of 13,000. There are the families who lost loved ones because of drunk drivers, as well as their friends, who never fully recover from the losses.
“Can you imagine losing everything in one night?” Rana Abbas Taylor, 45, asked the Free Press. Taylor’s sister and her family were the ones killed by a drunk driver in Kentucky.
Then there’s the family and friends of drunk drivers, whose lives are also disrupted when people are killed or maimed because of their loved ones’ reckless behaviors. I’ve read countless stories about people who seemed to be living upstanding lives and then found themselves on the front pages of their local newspapers after getting busted for drunk driving.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ running mate, can speak with great authority about drunk driving. Walz was a 31-year-old teacher when he was stopped the night of Sept. 23, 1995, near Chadron, Nebraska for going 96 mph in a 55-mph zone. Walz pleaded guilty in March 1996 to a reduced charge of reckless driving.
Walz’s defense attorney conceded Walz had been drinking but argued for a fine, saying his blood alcohol level was “relatively low.” He also noted that Walz was a teacher at a local high school and “felt terrible about this, was real disappointed, I guess, in himself.”
It seems a safe bet to speculate that most people feel terrible when getting arrested for drunk driving.
As is everything involving Congress, nothing is all that simple. The HALT Act gives the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration until this November 15 to finalize a rule for a standardized drunk driving technology. Automakers would then have two to three years to manufacture, test and roll out the sensors on all new vehicles, according to the Freep.
The HALT act also provides that the NHTSA can seek an extension to finalizing its approved drunk driving technology, and the agency last December signaled it likely would need the additional time. Despite the law’s goal of the drunk driving prevention technology being in cars by 2027 or sooner, the agency has 10 years to work on the rule or give up.
No sense in rushing things, particularly when it comes to saving lives.
From afar, I’ve long perceived the NHTSA as a badly underfunded government agency staffed by dedicated bureaucrats who are committed to automotive safety.
As an example of that dedication, the NHTSA is seeking to force a dozen automakers to recall 52 million Arc Automotive airbag inflators because the automotive safety agency says the parts are potentially unsafe and susceptible to ruptures that can maim and kill vehicle occupants. The recall would be the second biggest in automotive history, trailing only the 67 million Takata airbags the NHTSA ordered recalled beginning in 2013 that cost automakers nearly $25 billion and forced Japan-based Takata into bankruptcy.
I’m also a fan of National Transportation Safety Board chief Jennifer Homendy, who oversees investigations of plane, car, and other transportation crashes and mishaps. Homendy had the courage to sound the alarm about the dangers of hulking EV trucks and SUVs, particularly GM’s EV Hummer, which weighs more than 9,000 pounds and two auto reviewers said has inadequate brakes for a vehicle that can go from 0-60 in three seconds.
Among those citing concerns about technology to combat drunk driving is the American Civil Liberties Union, which issued this release three years ago warning it “leaves the door wide open for intrusion and the collection of sensitive data.”
Privacy is a legitimate and admirable concern, and the ACLU has so far been silent about the expose earlier this year by Kashmir Hill, an experienced New York Times technology writer specializing in privacy issues, revealing that unknown to many owners of GM’s internet enabled vehicles, the automaker was amassing and selling critical data about their driving behaviors to data brokers, who in turn sold the data to insurance companies.
The data was pay dirt for insurance companies as it included critical information like how often and long GM owners drive, how fast they take corners, how hard they hit the brakes, and whether they speed. Hill readily found examples of hapless GM customers whose insurance rates went up considerably because of GM’s data, but notably didn’t feature any customers whose rates went down.
A few weeks after her first story was published, Hill reported that GM had stopped selling its driving data. In addition to at least a dozen class action suits, Texas AG Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit with damning allegations about GM’s surveillance practices.
Interestingly, in its news release expressing concern for drunk driving prevention measures, the ACLU decried as “shameful” automakers “collecting all sorts of data without the meaningful knowledge or consent of drivers.” The “shameful” reference linked to this Washington Post story by Geoffrey Fowler published in 2019 expressing alarm about the data GM was collecting on him while driving his 2017 Chevy. It’s speaks to GM’s arrogance that the company cared not one iota about the bad publicity and moved to profit from the data it was collecting.
Ford has a patented a technology that would use several different sources of information to customize ad content to play in the automaker’s vehicles when they aren’t at the dealership for recall repairs. As reported by MotorTrend, Ford’s patented technology could listen to conversations and determine if it’s better to serve a visual or audio ad, depending on if there’s a lull in the conversation.
“The ideas described within a patent application should not be viewed as an indication of our business or product plans,” Ford said in a statement to Motor Trend. “No matter what the patent application outlines, we will always put the customer first in the decision-making behind the development and marketing of new products and services.”
GM CEO Mary Barra and her PR minions are also on record saying the automaker takes data security and privacy “very, very seriously,” despite compelling evidence to the contrary. Let’s hope that GM’s supportive efforts to promote drunk driving prevention technology are driven to save lives, not to find more profit streams.
Barra in December of last year said that drunk driving monitoring systems will be “good for everyone” and that GM had the technology in place. Notably, Dingell previously worked at GM, having previously served as the automaker’s executive director of Global Community Relations and Government Relations.
The Alliance of Automotive Innovation, a trade group that represents America’s automakers on Capitol Hill, says its members are committed to curbing drunk driving.
“Companies across the auto industry have made major investments in R&D and testing of drunk and impaired driving technology, including in-vehicle sensors and cameras, breath and touch-based alcohol detection systems and driver warning and alert systems,” AAI said in a statement to the Detroit Free Press. “Drunk and impaired driving is a complicated problem to solve — but a combination of education, strong laws, enforcement and technology is a formula to help save lives and address these avoidable tragedies.”
It appears Americans can count on Dingell to ensure AAI members make good on their stated commitments.
On behalf of every driver on U.S. roads: Thanks, Debbie!