It seems that every time someone turns around, there’s another story in the paper or on televised news broadcasts, or even on the wide, impersonal Internet, about some tragedy involving drunk driving. It’s perfectly safe to say that drunk driving is a huge problem in America, and there’ve been dozens of legal measures and debates and organisations made about preventing it and the deaths it continues to cause. Legal measures, social stigma, it seems like pretty much every trick in the book has been tried.
However, there’s one glaring omission in the crusade against drunk driving. Nobody ever talks about the availability, or, really, lack thereof, of breathalyzer testing. Sure, police officers carry breathalyzers as a matter of course, but not every drunk driver gets pulled over for reckless driving before it’s too late and someone’s been hurt or killed by the recklessness they’ve shown. It seems unfair that you already have to be posing a threat to just find out that your blood alcohol level is dangerously high. It’s an unfortunate truth, and a simple solution has been mainly ignored.
Until now.
The Alcobuddy is a breathalyzer machine meant to be mounted at eye-level in a bar or club. Its catchy design draws the attention of passers-by, and it is large enough (about the size of a large backpack) to be obviously visible. It is made of steel and has a digital video screen to guide a possibly-intoxicated patron through the simple steps to test their blood alcohol levels. It’s accurate to within .01 of your actual BAC, and it takes between 800 and 1100 uses to completely deplete the alcohol sensor. This sensor is the longest-lasting in the business, and, coupled with the six-hundred straw (any kind of which will do) capacity, this means that you don’t have to worry much at all about changing the sensors and straws. The machine can be customized with your own ads, your own currency, and even can replace the bills-and-coins, traditional payment mechanism with a credit card slot. Seven easy to use switches control the accepted currency, language, and amount of payment from inside the Alcobuddy, making the thing even more efficient and adaptable. It’s also profitable due to its relative cheapness to you – the alcohol sensor I mentioned before only costs one hundred dollars to be replaced.
These are only some of the features of the Alcobuddy, but it really isn’t the features that make me think of this as an incredibly worthy investment. What makes this a worthy investment is absurdly simple – it offers a service that nearly no one else does, and this is one of the best services one can offer, because it can save lives.
Interested? Check out the website (www.alcobuddy.com) for more info!
Showing posts with label safety. Show all posts
Showing posts with label safety. Show all posts
Friday, July 1, 2011
Friday, October 16, 2009
This 'buddy' doesn't want you driving drunk
LI man builds barroom breathalyzers
A serious problem on Long Island and all across our nation today is drunk driving. People become intoxicated at bars and pubs then get in their cars and drive home, putting not only themselves at risk but everyone else on the road too. What if there were a machine in bars to let people know if they should drive or not?
While visiting Europe two years ago, John Berlingieri of Holbrook saw a product that calculated a person's blood alcohol content, the factor that determines whether someone is legally drunk. Berlingieri thought it would be a no-brainer to bring this product stateside, and in February 2008 Alco-Buddy was born.
Alco-Buddy, which is in the process of being patented, resembles a small vending machine. For a price — often $2 — a bar patron can exhale into Alco-Buddy through a straw dispensed by the machine. Alco-Buddy calculates the customer's BAC and displays that level for a few seconds — in green numbers if the level is legal and in red if it is above the legal limit of 0.08.
Since making his first machines in Bohemia, Berlingieri has begun selling them to bars and other establishments that serve alcohol. Thirty companies in over 15 states have ordered machines for their stores. Berlingieri, who had worked 10 years for his father at TENS Machine Company, an aircraft manufacturer on Long Island, now heads up his own company, which produces about a hundred Alco-Buddy machines per month.
According to Berlingieri, a bar owner who puts the machine in his or her establishment is showing concern for the customers' well-being. If the owner can demonstrate to someone in the bar that he or she is legally drunk, there is a better chance of keeping the person from getting behind the wheel, Berlingieri said. BAC levels displayed by Alco-Buddy are not legally binding. Still, Berlingieri says his machines' BAC readouts are accurate to within 0.02. He calibrates each machine himself by means of an alcohol mixture warmed to approximate the temperature of human breath. The BAC percentage is displayed for several seconds then vanishes. No printouts are given. The machine is officially "for entertainment only," despite the potentially serious nature of a high BAC.
There are of course those bar patrons, according to Berlingieri, who prefer to use his machine solely for amusement, including a group of Marines in uniform he once saw competing to get the highest "score." When he has observed customers doing that, Berlingieri said they had someone present to serve as a designated driver. He hopes the owners and staff of the establishments where he has installed Alco-Buddy — more than 15 Long Island watering holes to date — would encourage patrons whose BAC is over the legal limit to get a ride home.
Suffolk police did not respond to calls for comment on the barroom breathalyzer. But Berlingieri said he has got good reviews from police officers he has spoken with, who have told the inventive entrepreneur any tool that helps reduce drunk driving is viewed in a positive light. In the words of Berlingieri's company motto: "Check yourself, before you wreck yourself."
A serious problem on Long Island and all across our nation today is drunk driving. People become intoxicated at bars and pubs then get in their cars and drive home, putting not only themselves at risk but everyone else on the road too. What if there were a machine in bars to let people know if they should drive or not?
While visiting Europe two years ago, John Berlingieri of Holbrook saw a product that calculated a person's blood alcohol content, the factor that determines whether someone is legally drunk. Berlingieri thought it would be a no-brainer to bring this product stateside, and in February 2008 Alco-Buddy was born.
Alco-Buddy, which is in the process of being patented, resembles a small vending machine. For a price — often $2 — a bar patron can exhale into Alco-Buddy through a straw dispensed by the machine. Alco-Buddy calculates the customer's BAC and displays that level for a few seconds — in green numbers if the level is legal and in red if it is above the legal limit of 0.08.
Since making his first machines in Bohemia, Berlingieri has begun selling them to bars and other establishments that serve alcohol. Thirty companies in over 15 states have ordered machines for their stores. Berlingieri, who had worked 10 years for his father at TENS Machine Company, an aircraft manufacturer on Long Island, now heads up his own company, which produces about a hundred Alco-Buddy machines per month.
According to Berlingieri, a bar owner who puts the machine in his or her establishment is showing concern for the customers' well-being. If the owner can demonstrate to someone in the bar that he or she is legally drunk, there is a better chance of keeping the person from getting behind the wheel, Berlingieri said. BAC levels displayed by Alco-Buddy are not legally binding. Still, Berlingieri says his machines' BAC readouts are accurate to within 0.02. He calibrates each machine himself by means of an alcohol mixture warmed to approximate the temperature of human breath. The BAC percentage is displayed for several seconds then vanishes. No printouts are given. The machine is officially "for entertainment only," despite the potentially serious nature of a high BAC.
There are of course those bar patrons, according to Berlingieri, who prefer to use his machine solely for amusement, including a group of Marines in uniform he once saw competing to get the highest "score." When he has observed customers doing that, Berlingieri said they had someone present to serve as a designated driver. He hopes the owners and staff of the establishments where he has installed Alco-Buddy — more than 15 Long Island watering holes to date — would encourage patrons whose BAC is over the legal limit to get a ride home.
Suffolk police did not respond to calls for comment on the barroom breathalyzer. But Berlingieri said he has got good reviews from police officers he has spoken with, who have told the inventive entrepreneur any tool that helps reduce drunk driving is viewed in a positive light. In the words of Berlingieri's company motto: "Check yourself, before you wreck yourself."
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