Science and events connected

The three-point seatbelt is acknowledged as one of the most important car safety innovations ever developed. Photo: Volvo

In the years since Swedish inventor Nils Bohlin came up with the three-point seatbelt and Volvo made it freely available for other manufacturers, the device has saved a life every six minutes around the world. More than 90 percent of Swedes use seatbelts — even in the back-seat.

Besides in-car innovations, other actions and policies have contributed to Sweden’s roads being so safe. The permitted blood alcohol concentration limit for driving in Sweden is 0.02 — the equivalent of less than one can of beer — which is about a quarter of that in the United States and among the strictest in the world. Recent research from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm shows that even a single glass of alcohol increases the risk of injury in a car crash.

Drink detector

Almost a third of the annual 1.4 million traffic fatalities worldwide are alcohol-related. Led by Swedish Autoliv, one of the world’s leading automotive safety companies, a project was set up to develop the next generation of alcolocks, which prevent a person who has been drinking from starting up a car engine and driving under the influence.

Alcolocks have already been fitted to cars belonging to convicted drink-drivers in Sweden and the United States, but the technology is costly and a new mouthpiece is needed each time. Photo: Karin Paulsson

The project, KAIA (an acronym for “driver- and vehicle-compatible alcohol sensor with embedded absolute measurement” in Swedish), aims to solve these issues.