Remarks by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) 20th Anniversary |
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Rodney E. Slater, United States Secretary of Transportation
September 6, 2000
REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY
U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION RODNEY E. SLATER
MOTHERS AGAINST DRUNK DRIVING (MADD) 20TH ANNIVERSARY
SEPTEMBER 6, 2000
WASHINGTON, D.C.
I am delighted and honored to join my colleagues from the Congress and the transportation industry for today’s salute to Mother’s Against Drunk Driving (MADD) for 20 years of extraordinary accomplishment.
We mark another accomplishment today because DOT announced just a few hours ago that alcohol-related traffic fatalities dropped again to a new historical low. Two-hundred and thirty-four (234) fewer Americans died last year in alcohol-related crashes.
Shared tragedy unites the hundreds of members of MADD standing with us on the steps of the U.S. Capitol this morning. Each mother, daughter, sister and aunt from MADD, and many of the men, as well as women here today, has experienced the pain caused by the death or maiming of a loved one at the hands of a drunken driver.
Before MADD began its work, the death of a child caused by a killer who drank too much before getting behind the wheel was considered an "Aaccident." Today we recognize it for what it is -- a crime. No one has the right to drive irresponsibly and to kill or maim those whom they did not happen to see while driving drunk.
MADD has created a new model for effective political action -- a model that goes beyond legislative advocacy to changing the way most Americans view the social responsibility of those who drink.
What MADD insisted upon, is that our drinking behavior as well as our laws had to change. Those who chose to drink must appoint designated drivers at the very least.
MADD’s strategy, thank God, is working. Habits are changing. And public tolerance for alcohol abuse has all but disappeared.
As a result of the efforts of these dedicated women over the past 20 years, the states have passed 2,300 anti-drunk driving and underage drinking state laws;
the Congress passed -- and the President Clinton signed -- the 1995 Zero Tolerance law; and alcohol-related traffic deaths have dropped by more than 40 percent.
I am proud to say the U.S. Department of Transportation has a strong working partnership with MADD and that the pace of action to reduce drunk driving has stepped up during the Clinton-Gore Administration. Eighty percent of the decline in the death rate in alcohol-related crashes over the past 20 years took place within the past 10 years.
While we have made great strides working together, almost 16 thousand Americans still lose their lives every year in alcohol-related crashes. This is unacceptable, and in partnership with MADD, DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have established a joint goal to reduce alcohol-related fatalities by nearly one-third by 2005.
To move our partnership forward, DOT launched the "You Drink & Drive"You Lose! campaign last December. This is a prevention campaign targeting high-risk drinkers: 21 to 34-year olds, repeat offenders and underage drinkers.
However the most critical next step in efforts to reduce traffic deaths caused by drunk drivers is the proposal now pending before the Congress that would require the states to adopt a .08 Blood Alcohol Content law as the legal standard defining drunk driving.
The scientific evidence is clear. At .08 BAC a person=s ability to drive is seriously degraded. He or she should not be driving. That is why President Clinton and DOT have joined with MADD in urging the Congress to quickly pass legislation that will help make .08 BAC the legal standard in every state.
Given MADD’s spectacular track record of success over the past 20 years, I am confident of the ultimate success of this campaign.
So I thank President Webb and all the officers and members of MADD for your exemplary model of the power of civic action, and for having the strength to turn your tragedy into a commitment to make America’s roads safer for everyone.
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Source: U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)