Pulaski County entrepreneur developing device to test possibly impaired drivers
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WINAMAC, Ind. - A former police officer and Indiana native is working to automate the most complicated part of the field sobriety test.
Peter Zahrt, founder and CEO of Tippecanoe Tech, was a drunk-driving patrol officer at various national parks. He invented the Night Rider, a device that performs the Nystagmus Test for an officer, where the suspect tracks the officer’s finger with their eyes.
There are six clues officers look for when testing someone. The device produces a sliding light bar, and the built-in camera tracks when certain clues are present, such as the involuntary bouncing of the eyes.
“Night Rider makes it easier to see the clues, rather than doing it manually. As you’re doing it manually you have to remember movements, cadence, distance, what clue you saw in what eye, and by the way, be looking for the clues. With Night Rider, you just push the button and you can sit back and watch the clues come to you,” Zahrt said.
Zahrt recently tested the device with police officers in Winamac, where Tippecanoe Tech is based.
The company brought in 10 volunteers and gave them a known quality of alcohol to get their blood alcohol level above .08, which is the legal limit. After they were intoxicated, police officers came in and did sobriety tests manually and using the Night Rider device.
“The police officer that was using it said it was extremely easy to see the clues. We have the added benefit of video evidence of the clues, so we can go back [and review]” Zahrt said. “They loved the video that it produces there. We’re still working through some things to make it available for use on the street.”
The device’s video could also be used as evidence in court.
The Night Rider is currently in its proof-of-concept stage with a final goal of having it ready for law enforcement officers to use in the field. The company still needs to gather more data to see how the device performs with different officers and different suspects.
“It needs to be cop proof, and people always ask me what cop proof is. I say you need to be able to turn it on, dunk it in a bucket of water, and then throw it down a flight of stairs, and if it still works after that, then it’s cop proof,” he said.
Tippecanoe Tech is very close to closing its $500,000 pre-seed round. Zahrt is now shipping one of the prototypes to a DUI unit in a major city for field trials.