The holiday season is approaching. For many, this is the most wonderful time of the year, thanks to the increased time spent with family and friends. There are countless gatherings and parties to look forward to and lots of time to just enjoy the people you have in your life. However, for many, the holiday season also means a chance to relax and unwind with a few alcoholic beverages.
Whether you are drinking at a bar or at someone’s house, it’s important to make the proper arrangements for getting home safely. After all, driving while under the influence is a huge risk to the driver and all others out on the road. Although you may not realize it, even a few drinks can impair your driving and increase the risk of being involved in an accident.
So, how can you keep your drinking in check, and, more importantly, know when it’s time to avoid getting behind the wheel? Besides the normal designated driver situation, a few companies have been hard at work developing ways that you can use technology to your advantage.
A Tattoo to Monitor Your Drinks
Now, a new biosensor tattoo may be able to help keep you safer during the holiday season. Researchers from the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla have engineered a wearable sensor that lets you know when you’ve had too much to drink.
The device, a biosensor patch embedded with flexible wireless components, resembles a temporary tattoo. According to Seila Slimovic, Ph.D., director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering Program in Tissue Chips, “One component releases a chemical that stimulates perspiration on the skin below the patch. Another component senses changes in the electrical current flowing through the generated sweat, which measures alcohol levels and sends them to the user’s cell phone.”
The phone then lets the user know when it’s no longer safe to drive so that they can make alternate arrangements to get home.
Ultimately, the hope is that this patch may help reduce the number of DUI-induced collisions on the road. Because of its user-friendly application, and the real-time data (the patch sends alcohol levels to the user’s smartphone in 8 minutes), it seems like this may be a more approachable and less intimidating way to monitor alcohol levels. It is also not as visually obtrusive as other methods, so users don’t have to feel as if everyone is watching them watch their level of intoxication.
So, will this new tech-savvy method of monitoring alcohol levels really have an impact on the number of crashes caused by driving under the influence? Only time will tell. But we are hopeful that this may make a difference in a really big way.
As Denver accident lawyers, we are always interested in the new developments surrounding DUI prevention. Too many lives are lost due to driving under the influence every year. So if this can reduce the number of people impacted by drunk driving, then we would certainly welcome it.
That said, collisions do happen, even when the best preventative measures have been taken. We understand that sometimes accidents are just that. But you shouldn’t be left alone to pick up the pieces. When you contact us, we’ll set up an initial consultation, listen to your story and help you move forward.
