Not sure if you've had too many drinks to get home safely or not? A new app funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration can help determine if you need to find a ride home instead of getting behind the wheel.
Users enter sex, height, weight and the number of drinks consumed and the app will tell them approximately what their blood-alcohol level is. The app, called ENDUI, and pronounced "End DUI," was announced by Maryland officials and is available on both iOS and Android.
"It's unique," said Kara Macek, a spokeswoman at the Governors Highway Safety Association. "I think states are starting to go that route because they're trying to reach consumers where they are and where they spend time, and everyone spends time on their phone. I think we're going to see more of that as we go forward."
The app isn't the only one on the market. While ENDUI is certainly the most elaborate on the market, other states, including New York, New Mexico, Colorado and California, all have apps of their own. It cost about $50,000 and was developed by the Maryland Highway Safety Office.
The app also includes a few games aimed at determining how alert a driver is. One of the games involves pressing a red "brake" button when the image of a pedestrian passes by or when a car on the road ahead stops. Another game shows road signs that blink in different orders. Users have to determine the order in which the road signs appeared, with the task getting increasingly difficult as each round progresses.
"The game is meant to be a hook and pull you in," said Tom Gianni, chief of the Maryland Highway Safety Office. "Then it's meant to give you a lesson of, 'See what can happen. Imagine if you were behind the wheel.' "
Even if a user is under the legal limit when that user enters their height and weight and the amount of alcohol that they have had, the app still warns them they might be somewhat impaired even though they are under the legal limit. "Driving with any amount of alcohol in your system may impair you and be illegal," the app notes.
"It kind of takes the guesswork out of a situation where you've had a few drinks and you're not sure what to," continued Gianni. "This takes all the brainwork out of it."
There are a number of other apps that perform similar functions on both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. For example, on the Google Play Store, users can download an app called AlcoDroid, which not only calculates blood-alcohol level, but also allows users to calculate how much they're spending on alcohol and set goals for themselves if they are trying to drink less.
