RIDE Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1331 To require the Secretary of Transportation, acting through the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, to prescribe a Federal motor vehicle safety standard for advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 22, 2021 Mr. LUJA´N (for himself and Mr. SCOTT of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To require the Secretary of Transportation, acting through the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safe- ty Administration, to prescribe a Federal motor vehicle safety standard for advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reduce Impaired Driv- 4 ing for Everyone Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘RIDE Act of 5 2021’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1331.IS S1331 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1331 IS SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds that— 2 (1) alcohol-impaired driving fatalities represent 3 approximately 1⁄3 of all highway fatalities in the 4 United States each year; 5 (2) in 2019, there were 10,142 alcohol-impaired 6 driving fatalities in the United States involving driv- 7 ers with a blood alcohol concentration level of .08 or 8 higher, and 68 percent of the crashes that resulted 9 in those fatalities involved a driver with a blood alco- 10 hol concentration level of .15 or higher; 11 (3) the estimated economic cost for alcohol-im- 12 paired driving in 2010 was $44,000,000,000; 13 (4) according to the Insurance Institute for 14 Highway Safety, advanced drunk and impaired driv- 15 ing prevention technology can prevent more than 16 9,400 alcohol-impaired driving fatalities annually; 17 and 18 (5) to ensure the prevention of alcohol-impaired 19 driving fatalities, advanced drunk and impaired driv- 20 ing prevention technology must be standard equip- 21 ment in all new passenger motor vehicles. 22 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 23 In this Act: 24 (1) ADVANCED DRUNK AND IMPAIRED DRIVING 25 PREVENTION TECHNOLOGY.—The term ‘‘advanced 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1331.IS S1331 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1331 IS drunk and impaired driving prevention technology’’ 1 means a system that can— 2 (A)(i) passively monitor the performance of 3 a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify 4 whether that driver may be impaired; and 5 (ii) prevent or limit motor vehicle operation 6 if an impairment is detected; or 7 (B)(i) passively and accurately detect 8 whether the blood alcohol concentration of a 9 driver of a motor vehicle is above the legal limit 10 for blood alcohol concentration of the jurisdic- 11 tion in which the vehicle is located; and 12 (ii) prevent or limit motor vehicle operation 13 if a blood alcohol concentration above the legal 14 limit is detected. 15 (2) NEW.—The term ‘‘new’’, with respect to a 16 passenger motor vehicle, means that the passenger 17 motor vehicle— 18 (A) is a new vehicle (as defined in section 19 37.3 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations 20 (or a successor regulation)); and 21 (B) has not been purchased for purposes 22 other than resale. 23 (3) PASSENGER MOTOR VEHICLE.—The term 24 ‘‘passenger motor vehicle’’ has the meaning given 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1331.IS S1331 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1331 IS the term in section 32101 of title 49, United States 1 Code. 2 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 3 the Secretary of Transportation, acting through the 4 Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safe- 5 ty Administration. 6 SEC. 4. ADVANCED DRUNK AND IMPAIRED DRIVING PRE- 7 VENTION TECHNOLOGY SAFETY STANDARD. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (c) and not 9 later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, 10 the Secretary shall issue a final rule prescribing a Federal 11 motor vehicle safety standard under section 30111 of title 12 49, United States Code, that requires passenger motor ve- 13 hicles manufactured after the effective date of that stand- 14 ard to be equipped with advanced drunk and impaired 15 driving prevention technology. 16 (b) REQUIREMENTS.— 17 (1) LEAD TIME.—The compliance date of the 18 rule issued under subsection (a) shall be not more 19 than 2 model years after the effective date of that 20 rule. 21 (2) TECHNICAL CAPABILITY.—Any advanced 22 drunk and impaired driving prevention technology 23 required for new passenger motor vehicles under 24 subsection (a) that measures blood alcohol con- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1331.IS S1331 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1331 IS centration shall use the adult legal limit for blood al- 1 cohol concentration of the jurisdiction in which the 2 passenger motor vehicle is located. 3 (c) TIMING.—If the Secretary determines that the 4 Federal motor vehicle safety standard required under sub- 5 section (a) cannot meet the requirements and consider- 6 ations described in subsections (a) and (b) of section 7 30111 of title 49, United States Code, by the applicable 8 date, the Secretary— 9 (1) may extend the time period to such date as 10 the Secretary determines to be necessary, but not 11 later than the date that is 3 years after the date de- 12 scribed in subsection (a); and 13 (2) shall, not later than the date described in 14 subsection (a) and not less frequently than annually 15 thereafter until the date on which the rule under 16 that subsection is issued, submit to the Committee 17 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 18 Senate and the Committee on Energy and Com- 19 merce of the House of Representatives a report de- 20 scribing, as of the date of submission of the report— 21 (A) the reasons for not prescribing a Fed- 22 eral motor vehicle safety standard under section 23 30111 of title 49, United States Code, that re- 24 quires advanced drunk and impaired driving 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1331.IS S1331 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1331 IS prevention technology in all new passenger 1 motor vehicles; 2 (B) the deployment of advanced drunk and 3 impaired driving prevention technology in vehi- 4 cles; 5 (C) any information relating to the ability 6 of vehicle manufacturers to include advanced 7 drunk and impaired driving prevention tech- 8 nology in new passenger motor vehicles; and 9 (D) an anticipated timeline for prescribing 10 the Federal motor vehicle safety standard de- 11 scribed in subsection (a). 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1331.IS S1331 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS