WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, introduced the Multiple Substance Driving Prevention Act—legislation that would address an underreported cause of many serious and fatal vehicle accidents. Specifically, the measure would increase investment in technologies for detecting multiple-substance impairment and improve reporting on the phenomenon. Representatives Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) introduced a companion measure in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Driving under the influence is a preventable crime, and we must do everything in our power to create a future where there are fewer victims. Our legislation would help address this problem by providing states with the flexibility to invest in programs and technologies to better identify, monitor, or treat impaired drivers,” Senator Capito said.

“I’m proud to partner with Senator Capito to increase public safety resources, cut down on impaired driving, and protect Arizona families,” Senator Sinema said.

“DISCUS and Responsibility.org are committed to eliminating impaired driving from America’s roadways,” President and CEO of DISCUS and Responsibility.org Chris Swonger said. “The risk of crashes increases exponentially when drivers are impaired from multiple substances, and this issue is only now starting to be acknowledged and addressed as it continues to be a growing problem for states. The process of identifying, prosecuting, and treating these high-risk offenders requires specialized training, better data collection and new technologies and countermeasures. We are confident this bill will help states build a foundation for addressing this ongoing problem. We applaud Senator Capito and Senator Sinema for their leadership in sponsoring this critical legislation and are grateful for their steadfast commitment to eliminating impaired driving in our communities.”

The legislation seeks to increase national investment and maximization of innovative programs and technology to eliminate multiple substance impaired driving. Specifically, the bill would: 

  • Reform the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) National Priority Safety Program (Section 405) to allow funds to be used for drug toxicology, impaired-driving related training for law enforcement, and general offender monitoring technology.
  • Further clarify that states may use funds to improve reporting and share impaired driving data.
  • Require a GAO study on the reporting of impaired driving arrest and citation data into federal databases and the landscape of how states share information.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

In 2016, the NHTSA found that 50.5% of fatally injured drug-positive drivers tested positive for two or more drugs in their system and 40.7% were found to have alcohol in their system. New traffic fatality data from January 2020 to September 2020 showed that even though vehicle miles traveled declined, traffic fatalities still increased by 4.6% compared to 2019. Unfortunately, multiple substance impaired driving is underreported due to challenges in detecting and identifying drug involvement. 

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