Driver-ID, Inc. Offers Convicted Drivers High-Tech Alternative to Loss of Car

10 September 1999

Driver-ID, Inc. Offers Convicted Drivers High-Tech Alternative to Loss of Car

    LIVONIA, Mich.--Sept. 9, 1999--A Michigan firm is offering a high-technology alternative to families facing loss of their vehicles under a new law enabling court-ordered immobilization for multiple driving convictions.
    Beginning October 1, Michigan's "repeat offender law" mandates that individuals with multiple convictions for driving under influence of alcohol or drugs, or certain other infractions, will have their driver's license suspended and their car impounded for the duration of their sentence. The law is intended to keep convicted drivers off the roads, but in some cases can also deprive their families or colleagues of needed transportation.
    Driver-ID, Inc., a Livonia-based company, has developed an innovative alternative. It is an electronic tether system that will prevent a convicted driver from using the vehicle but allow others to drive it.
    Designated XD-1(TM), the system is based on advanced micro-electronic technology. It includes an ankle bracelet transmitter, similar in size to a pager, which is worn by the immobilized driver and a receiver which is installed in the car. The system will prevent the restricted person from starting the car or operating it after it is started.
    The XD-1(TM) system will be available for installation from Driver-ID, Inc. when ordered by a judge and selected by the sentenced driver. The sentence would require the offender to wear the ankle bracelet at all times, and authorities can monitor the system to assure compliance.
    "This will offer an alternative to car impoundment and avoid hardships for innocent people in many situations," said Valdemar L. Washington, president and founder of Driver-ID, Inc., which developed and patented the system. "By using the XD-1(TM), family members and friends will be able to drive the car, while keeping the problem driver off the road." Mr. Washington is a trial attorney and former Circuit Court judge in Genesee County.
    The mission of Driver-ID, Inc. is to create products that protect families and save lives by electronically monitoring drivers, said David Newman, a Senior Associate of Zorea Consulting, a Northville, Michigan firm retained by Driver-ID, Inc. to assist in designing and implementing business processes to manufacture and distribute the XD-1(TM).