This is part of a series I have been thinking about for a long time. When I have a fleeting thought about some neat idea, I should publish it to ensure that it can not be patented later.

This morning I read an article about a drunk driver that killed a motorcyclist. I know there are companies that make sobriety tests that tie into vehicle ignition systems. Some courts order offenders to have these installed.

I thought it would make sense to use the car’s existing controls (buttons on the steering wheel) and displays to run a reaction-time test that has to be passed before the car can be started.

Of course, this would be annoying. So maybe the car could be configured (via web page?) to require this test only at certain times. I log into car.com and set it to require a sobriety test to be started between 10pm and 4am. It could provide options if I fail. Say, after two failures, the car could phone a friend, or it could (via a service like OnStar) call a cab to my location.