The Jacket that tells you you’re drunk

A New Zealand designer has designed a smoking jacket that tells you if you’re drunk and too wasted to drive.

The designer, Matt Leggett, designed the jacket so that it would be able to inform the wearer whether they’re fit to drive or not, via a built in breathalyzer. In order to check if you're over the limit or not, you simply pull on the collar and blow into a nozzle that’s hidden away nicely. If you can’t find the nozzle, you can take it that you’re drunk.

Included in the jacket are an Arduino microprocessor, an alcohol sensor, and a series of LED’s that "provide an elegant solution to the drink driving problem."

A breathalyzer located in the pocket of the jacket, analyses the sample and then lights, that are stitched into the forearm, indicate how drunk you are. The LED lights glow when alcohol is detected and the brighter they glow, the worse you are.

Mr Leggett, from Wellington, said, "This project is designed to address the very real problem of driving under the influence of alcohol, something which is especially prominent within New Zealand culture.

"The main aim of the breathalyser jacket is to provide the wearer with enough information regarding the amount alcohol on his/her breath to make a decision on whether driving is in fact a good idea.

"The lights will only glow for a period of around a minute after the breath sample has been taken, enough time for the wearer to process the information without becoming a walking light show. To the unfamiliar observer, the jackets function is a mystery."

A novel idea that would probably run out of the shops over here if it went mainstream. Sadly there’s no news on the availability of various colours, but give it time.

[Image via Matt Leggett: Digital Designer]