MADD
Honors Victims on 15th Anniversary of Nation's Worst DUI Crash,
Unveils Federal Plan
Hamilton
said that "the rising tide in alcohol-related deaths is fueled
by meager resources given to enforcement, a lack of a coordinated
and strategic game plan and a lax system that often treats drunk
drivers as victims while repeat offenders and high BAC drivers
routinely get a mere slap on the wrist."
MADD's
plan specifically calls for:
*
Establishment of a National Traffic Safety Fund to support state
and national traffic safety programs, enforcement, and data improvements
* Increased Accountability for Expenditure of Federal Funds
* Expanded Impaired Driving and Seat Belt Law Enforcement Mobilizations
* Enactment of a National Standard to Reduce Repeat DUI/DWI and
Other Higher-Risk Driver Recidivism
* Enactment of a National Primary Seat Belt Enforcement Standard
* Enactment of a National Standard Banning Open Containers of
alcoholic beverages in vehicles
Traffic
crashes cost Americans $230 billion each year, but federal spending
on highway safety was only $522 million in 2001 with just 26 percent
going to fight drunk driving.
"Compared to the financial and human costs of drunk driving,
our nation is spending a mere pittance on the problem. The reauthorization
of TEA-21 will set the direction of transportation policy for
the rest of the decade, and this is our best opportunity to ensure
fairness and balance in highway safety spending," said Hamilton.
MADD's
call to action was echoed by the National Transportation Safety
Board Chairman Ellen Engleman, U.S. Senators Frank Lautenberg
(D-NJ), Michael DeWine (R-OH), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Senator Patty
Murray (D-WA) and Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY) who joined
Hamilton at a recent Capitol Hill news conference.
NTSB
also joined MADD in calling for stricter standards for higher-risk
drivers.
"The tragedy that occurred 15 years ago in Carrollton, Kentucky,
remains the worst impaired driving crash ever investigated by
the Safety Board," said Ellen Engleman, NTSB chairman. "Since
that crash, we have made school buses safer, now we need to make
our highways safer by getting drivers, like the Carrollton, KY
driver, who drive with a high blood alcohol concentration, or
who repeatedly abuse alcohol and then drive, off the road."
Added
MADD Past National President Karolyn V. Nunnallee, whose daughter
Patty was the youngest killed in the bus crash, "If it happened
to my family, it can happen to any family...and these tragedies
do occur every thirty minutes across the country. Any politician
can say that safety is their number one priority. But deeds, not
words, will show us who the real leaders are."
MADD
is the premiere organization working to fight drunk driving, support
the victims of this violent crime and prevent underage drinking.
MADD is a 501(c) 3 charity with 600 chapters and 2 million members
nationwide. Nearly 270,000 lives have been saved since MADD's
founding in 1980. Find a full version of MADD's plan at http://www.madd.org/docs/MADD_TEA21paper.pdf
(source:
MADD) (...BACK) |
