Bracelet made by Colorado company SOBRsafe can help parents monitor underage drinking
A Colorado company believes it has a product that can help parents monitor underage drinking, as well as prevent drunk driving. The product, created by SOBRsafe, comes in the form of a bracelet and provides real-time information to a phone app.
According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, 745 people died on Colorado roads in 2022, and almost 40 percent of incidents involved impaired driving. Nationally, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates about a quarter of all crashes involve underage drinking.
For more than three years now, Greenwood Village-based SOBRsafe has been working to find preventative solutions to the issue of people driving while impaired. The company's first product was a stationary alcohol detection system, but this August SOBRsafe will release a new option that fits on your wrist.
"We decided to be a gamechanger and be in front of the problem," said CEO Dave Gandini.
The alcohol detection band looks like a Fitbit, but records for the presence of alcohol through an ethanol sensor and transdermal algorithms. Rather than scan for blood alcohol content (BAC), it simply identifies whether any alcohol is present in the system.
"This is not a BAC device," Gandini said. "We're not in that space, the punitive space. This is a safety technology.
The wristband will be connected to a phone app that shows the alcohol reading, as well as the user's exact location. Gandini believes it could be a valuable tool for parents hoping to prevent poor decisions and keep their teens safe.
"When they see the app, they'll see the location of where their child is, and they'll see whether or not their child has any alcohol in their system," he said. "It creates the opportunity for families to talk about the drinking and driving situation and being able to figure out how they'll manage it collectively, so the family stays safe and saves lives."
While Gandini sees the bracelet as a safety net for parents, he also sees an opportunity for employers to ensure their employees aren't intoxicated while operating company vehicles and equipment. The company is also in discussion with rehabilitation centers, which could use the bracelets to track people in recovery, he said.
SOBRsafe has also recently partnered with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), which will link to the bracelet on its website and possibly offer a discount code.
Executive Director Fran Lanzer said he's hopeful new technologies can play a big part in cutting down underage drinking, as well as drunk driving incidents.
"We want people to make healthy and safe decisions, and this is another tool," Lanzer said. "New technologies that are coming online are giving people, at their fingertips, tools they can use to help keep themselves safe, help keep their families safe, and those tools are so important in helping people do the right thing."
MADD provides support to victims and survivors of underage drinking and drunk and drugged driving crashes at no charge. If you've been impacted, you can get connected by calling their 24-7 victim helpline 1-877-MADD-HELP.
