Nissan Motor Co has decided to develop automobiles that will not start if drivers are drunk, Nissan sources said.
Other Japanese automakers may follow suit in view of growing public awareness against drunken driving following a recent series of high-profile accidents caused by intoxicated drivers, including one in Fukuoka last month that killed three children, analysts said.
Nissan adopted a policy of developing vehicles equipped with anti-drunken driving mechanisms during a meeting of its research and development department earlier this month, the sources said.
The company has judged that efforts on the part of automakers to prevent drunken driving are necessary in light of unabated occurrences of fatal traffic accidents induced by drunken driving, they said.
Among mechanisms Nissan is considering fitting to its vehicles is a straw-like tube to be installed on the driver's seat. The engine will not start if the device detects alcohol in a density greater than a certain level when the drivers blow into it.
Nissan is also studying installment of a mechanism that requires drivers to enter personal identification numbers of many digits before engines can be started. Drivers may not be able to remember their PINs if they are drunk.
Developing a vehicle mounted with such mechanisms will not be difficult since the devices are already in use in the United States and some European countries, a Nissan executive said.
Japanese automakers have been putting emphasis on maximizing the safety of drivers and passengers in the event of a collision, but almost no development efforts have been made to prevent drunken driving.
In 2001, new legislation made drunken drivers who caused fatal accidents subject to punishment of up to 20 years in jail, compared with a maximum of five years before.
Although the number of fatal accidents caused by drunken drivers fell to 707 in 2005 from 1,191 in 2001, due mainly to the stiffened punishment, the frequency of such accidents appears to be growing this year with 364 fatal accidents reported during the January-June period, up 13 from a year earlier.
Late last month, three children were killed and their parents injured in Fukuoka Prefecture when a vehicle carrying the family was rear-ended by a driver under the influence of alcohol.
