CAPE CHARLES, Va. — It happens all too often—a person is injured or killed by a drunk driver.
Lakesha Stines, a Cape Charles native now living in Ansonia, Connecticut, hopes to do something about that. She has created a device to keep drunk drivers off the road.
It's called 'Sober Touch Sensoring'—a car steering wheel that can detect a driver's alcohol levels through his or her palm sweat.
"If your level is above the state requirement, [the car is] not gonna start," Stines says. "I wish I came up with this earlier, because it would've been so many people that would be here right now."
Stines says when she was a child, someone very close to her was killed by a drunk driver.
"I was, like, nine or 10. And she was my mom's best friend and she was like a godmother to me. She was another mother to me," Stines says.
"You don't even know how to even channel that type of hurt."
That tragedy is in the inspiration behind Stines' invention. She says she's been working with a company and engineer to make the 'Sober Touch Sensoring' steering wheel a reality.
Her goal is for it to become a standard feature in new vehicles in hopes that countless lives will be saved.
"I'm a mother of six kids and eight grandkids," says Stines.
"This is not just gonna save my family—it's gonna save everybody's family."
You can follow developments with 'Sober Touch Sensoring' and contact Stines on Facebook.
MORE NEWS
Follow 13News Now on and Twitter
► Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13News Now App.