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The Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have commenced a five-year cooperative agreement exploring the feasibility of, and the public policy challenges associated with, widespread use of in-vehicle alcohol detection technology to prevent alcohol-impaired driving. This effort, known as the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) program, aims to develop technologies that could be a component of a system to prevent the vehicle from being driven when the device registers that the driver's blood alcohol concentration (BAC) exceeds the legal limit (currently 0.08 g/dL throughout the United States). For DADSS installation as original equipment in new vehicles there are critical requirements to be met. Alcohol detection technology must be seamless to the driver and be able to quickly and accurately measure the driver's BAC non-invasively.

This paper presents an analysis of the National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) and the Fatal Accident Reporting Systems (FARS) data for the combined years 1988–97 with respect to side impacts. Accident variables, vehicle variables, occupant variables and their interactions have been considered, with special emphasis on occupant injury patterns. The crash modes considered are car-to-car, car-to-LTV (light trucks and vans) and car to narrow object, with special emphasis on the latter two. This study was undertaken to obtain a better understanding of injury patterns in lateral impacts, their associated causation factors, and to obtain information that will assist in prioritizing crash injury research problems in near side impacts. Of particular interest is the increase in the population of light trucks and vans and their influence on side impact priorities. Conclusions will be drawn regarding the frequency and injury severity of car-to-LTV’s and car to narrow objects.