Some things are not meant to be together. Some things should be kept away from some people. For when they meet or cross paths, unpleasant things happen. Worse, most of the times that they do get close to each other, things could turn fatal, or do irreparable damage.

Our elders have always admonished us, telling us to keep those matches away from children. Hide those guns where no kids can find them. And those credit cards, never ever let your spouse get hold of them. And for the sake of our children’s children, keep the public funds away from politicians, those slimy children of matrimonially challenged parents.

But most of all, keep those car keys away from drivers who have had one bottle of beer too many, or downed more glasses of “agua de pataranta” than his bloated belly and Lilliputian brain could handle.

IT for Road Safety

Automobile companies, heeding perhaps consumers’ calls for action to combat drunk driving and its often inevitably fatal consequences, have been working, testing a number of technologies that could maybe save lives including those of whom some people might consider not worth saving.

In many cases, IT plays a starring role in carmakers’ reengineering of their automobiles to prevent alcohol-induced road accidents. Coming in various forms, the projects take different approaches to incorporating technology into systems that prevent drunk driving, or keep alive those drivers stupid enough to drink and drive.

Toyota Motor, the world’s largest car manufacturer, is working on such a system. Designed to lock the car’s ignition if the driver is detected to have high levels of alcohol, the system features a handheld breathalyzer. It also includes a digital camera that aside from detecting alcohol consumption also takes a photograph of the driver’s face for identification.

In addition, the system is designed to alert other people — the driver’s employer, should he be using a company car — and perhaps, ground the driver and keep him from driving for some time.
According to media reports, Nissan Motor is working on a similar system.

IT-enabled systems designed to keep drivers safe even from themselves have been made possible by advances in onboard computing platforms for automobiles. For some years now, American, Japanese, and European carmakers have been engaged in a race to equip cars and other motor vehicles with computers.

From there, it is only a matter of adding sensors, and other components that can detect alcohol in the driver, identify the person behind the wheel, disable the automobile if needed, and inform concerned parties that some drunk wants to drive.

As onboard computers for cars become smarter, drunk-driving-prevention systems and other safety tools will become standard car features. Maybe then, road accidents involving drunk drivers will become history.

But until then, we should all do our part in keeping our streets safe. For car owners and drivers, please do not be stupid. Don't drink and drive. And for the rest of us, don't let our friends get behind the wheel once they have had too much alcohol intake. The lives we might save could be those of our loved ones, as some public information campaigns used to say.

Although I would like to hasten to add, those people who were killed or injured by traffic accidents. They were some other people's loved ones too.