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The idea of facing a traffic cop with a Breathalyser in hand is enough to make many drivers think twice about drinking and driving.
But Greek researchers have gone a step further and created a sophisticated machine that can determine the state of a person’s intoxication levels by looking at their forehead and nose to gauge the temperature on their face.
The Daily Mail reports that the algorithm machine could one day be a standard feature in modern cars, stalling the ignition if it detects that the driver is intoxicated.
The algorithm uses cameras that detect radiation in the infrared range of the spectrum to create images of that radiation.
Warm areas, for example, could be shown in red, while cooler areas could appear in blue.
The warm areas are detected because many people feel warmer and have hot flushes after drinking alcohol.
Thermal infrared pictures of 41 volunteers were taken by researchers from the University of Patras in Greece before and after drinking about four glasses of wine.
After drinking the wine, the blood alcohol levels in the volunteers increased.
The legal limit in South Africa for driving a car after drinking alcohol is 0.05% per 100 millilitres of blood.
Examining the thermal infrared pictures of the volunteers, the scientists found that the best indicator of a person’s drunken state using the algorithm was the temperature of the forehead and the nose, with a 90% accuracy rate
