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Inventor hopes new steering wheel deters drunken driving
Associated Press
Published May 30, 2005
FORT LAUDERDALE - A Fort Lauderdale man has created a steering wheel that contains a skin sensor that blocks a vehicle from starting or running if the driver is drunk, an invention he thinks could reduce alcohol-related accidents.
Dennis Bellehumeur, 54, hopes the $600 device will become a standard safety feature. He spent 12 years creating the device, which tests the skin on a driver's hands to determine alcohol content. The invention should complete testing this year, said Bellehumeur, who received a U.S. patent this month.
"I hope one day I'll get a call from some guy saying, "I was drunk and could've killed someone, but because of you, I couldn't start my car,"' said Bellehumeur, a real estate agent and deli owner in Wilton Manors.
His son Jim prompted the invention. In 1989, Jim, then 16, drove drunk on Ontario's streets and crashed into a light pole. He suffered a minor brain injury and spent five years in therapy.
The sensor is installed in the steering wheel or gloves worn by the driver. The device can be adjusted to each state's alcohol threshold.
A similar device has been on the market for three decades. The "breath alcohol ignition interlock" requires a driver to blow into an instrument connected to the vehicle's ignition system.
[Last modified May 30, 2005, 01:38:11]
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