[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 61 (Thursday, May 14, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4847-S4849]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               10TH ANNIVERSARY OF DUI CRASH IN KENTUCKY

  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, today marks the 10th anniversary of the 
most tragic drunk driving case in our Nation's history. Ten years ago 
today, on Saturday, May 14, 1988, a school bus filled with children 
heading home to Radcliff, KY, after having spent a day at King's Island 
Amusement Park in Ohio--that school bus was hit head-on by a drunk 
driver heading the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, KY, 10 
years ago today. The collision caused the front gas tank of the bus to 
explode in flames. The crash caused the death of 24 children and three 
adults, and left many of the 36 survivors burned and disfigured.
  This crash did not just affect the 63 innocent victims who were on 
the bus that day. It had significant impact and changed forever many of 
the victims' families, friends and their community. This horrible 
tragedy helped fuel a nationwide movement which has helped to change 
our Nation's attitudes towards drinking and driving. This horrible 
tragedy helped spur State legislatures to enact more stronger drunk 
driving laws. It led to tougher enforcement and has caused people to 
think twice before drinking and driving. In short, it is no longer 
``cool'' or ``neat'' in our society to drink and drive. And this 
horrible, horrible tragedy did impact people and has helped to 
galvanize public opinion in regard to drunken driving.
  The effects of this attitude change are well documented. In 1986, 
24,050 people lost their lives in alcohol-related traffic crashes. A 
decade later that number had dropped by 28 percent; 17,274 people lost 
their lives in 1995 in

[[Page S4848]]

alcohol-related accidents, a drop of 28 percent. This reduction is not 
attributable to one single event. It is not attributable just to this 
horrible accident, this horrible tragedy we are commemorating and 
thinking about today. It was a whole series of actions taken by people 
across this country--Mothers Against Drunk Driving, SADD chapters, 
grassroots efforts of survivors, grassroots efforts of victims and 
members of victims' families.
  We have begun, over that decade, to significantly change public 
attitudes. Unfortunately, after 10 years of improvement, after 10 years 
of fewer people dying every year due to drunken driving, these trends 
have now been reversed. I think our Nation has lost its focus. We no 
longer focus on this as a national issue. From 1994 to 1995, fatalities 
in alcohol-related crashes rose--did not decline--rose, and they rose 
by 4 percent. That was the first increase in over a decade. In 1995, 41 
percent of the 41,798 motor vehicle crash deaths were attributable to 
alcohol use. Alcohol involvement is the single greatest factor in 
traffic-related deaths and injuries. In short, the trend is now moving 
in the wrong direction. We have not done enough. We must move to 
reverse this trend.
  I think what we have to do is to refocus and to put the emphasis 
back, again, and public debate, on this horrible, horrible problem. 
This year, Congress has the opportunity to help renew our Nation's 
focus on the evils of drinking and driving. During the Senate's 
consideration of ISTEA, we took the lead in helping our Nation refocus 
on the consequences of drinking and driving.
  Mr. President, there is no one single thing in the Senate's version 
of ISTEA reauthorization which will change attitudes by itself. Rather, 
the Senate did a number of things which, when taken together, will help 
renew our Nation's focus on this effort.
  First, the Senate voted to adopt an amendment which would encourage 
States to enact a statute that would make it illegal, in and of itself, 
to operate a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or 
higher. This amendment was adopted by a 2-to-1 margin in this Senate 
Chamber. This was one of the few times I stated on the floor that day 
that Members of the Senate could come to the Senate floor and cast 
their vote and know that a ``yes'' vote would, in fact, clearly save 
lives. The individuals we will never know, but it is clear this 
legislation, if enacted into law, will save hundreds and ultimately 
thousands of lives over the next few years. Sixty-one of our colleagues 
chose to take advantage of that opportunity.
  Further, in the same bill, the Senate voted to adopt an amendment 
which would make it illegal to drive with one hand on the steering 
wheel and the other wrapped around a bottle of whiskey or beer. That is 
still legal in many places in this country. Under this legislation, it 
no longer would be tolerated.
  Finally, we included a provision which would establish mandatory 
minimum penalties for repeat drunk drivers--the worst of the worst of 
the worst.
  I can think of no better way to honor the memories of the victims of 
the deadliest alcohol-related traffic crash in our Nation's history, as 
well as the memories of all victims of drunk drivers, than to include 
these reasonable provisions aimed at renewing our Nation's focus on the 
tragedy resulting from drinking and driving in the final bill to 
reauthorize the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act.
  This matter is in conference committee right now. The conferees are 
dealing with a number of very contentious and very difficult funding 
issues. We all have our own opinions about those issues. They are very 
contentious. But there is one issue where the overwhelming majority of 
the American people have spoken in public opinion poll after public 
opinion poll, and that has to do with the .08. There is one issue where 
the members of the conference committee can know that their vote to 
include the .08 provision will, in fact, save lives.
  Let me repeat, this Senate has spoken. Sixty-one of the Members of 
this Senate voted ``yes'' for a nationwide .08 standard. The House of 
Representatives did not have the opportunity to vote; they were blocked 
from voting on this measure. But I think anyone who has looked at this 
clearly understands that the House of Representatives also, if they had 
been permitted to vote on this, would have approved the .08.
  What we are asking the conference committee to do is very simple: 
Include this provision, which passed so overwhelmingly in the U.S. 
Senate, in the final version of ISTEA. If the members of the conference 
committee will do that, they will save lives. It has been estimated 
that between 500 to 1,000 lives in this country will be saved every 
year by going to a .08 standard.
  Mr. President, the statistics and facts are clear. The evidence is 
overwhelming. No one who tests .08 has any business being behind the 
wheel of a car. Think about it. If you were at a party at a neighbor's 
house or your own house, and you saw someone, an adult male weighing 
160 to 165 pounds, and you watched him drink over an hour period of 
time--you timed it--four beers or four shots of liquor or four big 
glasses of wine on an empty stomach, then that person looked at you and 
said, ``I want to take your little girl Anna to get an ice cream 
cone,'' would you let your daughter get in the car with that person? We 
all know the answer. The answer is absolutely not--``Don't get near 
her; she can't go with you.''

  That is all we are saying. Mr. President, it takes that much alcohol 
consumption to reach .08. What we are saying is, we set a nationwide 
standard so that, no matter where we go in this country, we have some 
level of assurance that the laws of whatever State we are in--in my 
case, whether I drive out of Ohio into Kentucky or Indiana or Michigan 
or West Virginia, wherever I go, when I put my family in a car, I will 
have an assurance there is a national .08 standard, a bare minimum 
standard to protect our families.
  That is what we are asking for in the conference committee. I again 
urge the members of the conference committee to do what is right: 
Follow what the Senate has said, follow the vote in the Senate, and 
include this very reasonable measure.
  For my friends, my conservative friends, such as myself--we consider 
ourselves conservatives--I simply point out, this is the same type 
legislation that Ronald Reagan approved and supported and pushed 
through the U.S. Congress, when he was President of the United States, 
to go to a nationwide standard of 21 as being the age for drinking. It 
is the same mechanism, the same procedure, and the same basic 
principle.
  What Ronald Reagan said then, and I will paraphrase, is very simple: 
That in some areas of national importance, national concern, we can 
make small intrusions into States rights, small changes that will have 
monumental effects to save lives across the country, and in some areas 
we do need a national minimum standard. I urge the conferees to include 
this in the legislation.
  I see my friend, Senator Lautenberg, who has been a tremendous 
advocate over the years for highway safety, who sponsored the bill I 
just referenced that Ronald Reagan pushed through and Senator 
Lautenberg pushed through. Senator Lautenberg was the author of that 
bill in the 1980s. He and I were at the White House yesterday with the 
Vice President. We have been there with the President to support this. 
This is a bipartisan effort to save lives in this country.
  I yield to my colleague.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senator from New 
Jersey is recognized to speak for up to 15 minutes.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. I thank the Chair. I thank my colleague from Ohio, 
Senator DeWine.
  Senator DeWine has experience as a prosecutor. He has seen what 
happens when alcohol and driving try to mix. The result is terrible 
tragedy so often. His work here, together with mine, has enabled us to 
assemble a bipartisan group to support our effort to reduce the blood 
alcohol content to .08 at which point someone can be declared driving 
while impaired.
  Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Nation's most deadly drunk 
driving crash. On the night of May 14, 1988, a bus packed with sleeping 
children was driving south on Interstate 71 to the First Assembly of 
God Church in Radcliff, KY. Thirty-five girls, twenty-eight boys, and 
four adults were returning from a day at the King's Island amusement 
park near Cincinnati.

[[Page S4849]]

  According to newspaper accounts, the group said a short prayer before 
they began their return trip. I quote him. He said, ``Please grant us a 
safe trip. May God have his hand on this bus.'' That is what he prayed.

  But prayers were not enough that day. At 10:55 p.m., as the bus 
neared the northern Kentucky town of Carrollton, the driver of the bus 
spotted a pickup truck barreling north in his southbound lane. Moments 
later a collision and the bus burst into flames.
  Twenty-four children and 3 adults were killed in that devastating 
schoolbus crash, and 30 more were injured. The lives of so many 
families and friends were destroyed.
  The current president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Karolyn 
Nunnallee, lost her daughter Patty in that terrible crash. She was on 
television this morning trying to explain the impact of losing that 
child. This day across the Nation thousands of mothers, fathers, 
brothers, and sisters will join in a moment of silence to honor those 
thousands of victims who die on our highways each year at the hands of 
drunk drivers.
  We will honor Patty and the others who died that night and those who 
were injured during this moment of silence.
  Sadly, the death toll visited upon us by drunk driving mounts up each 
year with an appalling clock-like efficiency. Every 30 minutes a family 
loses a loved one to a drunk driver. That means in the decade since the 
Carrollton crash 175,000 people have died. That is almost twice the 
population of the capital of my home State of New Jersey, Trenton, NJ. 
These deaths need not have happened.
  If we also take into consideration that each of these victims had 
family and friends, we are talking about more than--more than--a 
million people grief stricken, which is more people than who live in 
Washington, DC. And this grieving should never have occurred.
  Drunk driving also takes an enormous economic toll, as well, on our 
Nation. Alcohol-related crashes cost society over $45 billion each 
year. One alcohol-related fatality is estimated to cost society about 
$950,000; and an injury averages about $20,000 in emergency and acute 
health care costs, long-term care and rehabilitation, police and court 
services, insurance, lost productivity, and social services.
  Just look at this toll of needless death, needless grief, and 
needless spending. These facts should move us to rage. And our rage 
should move us to action.
  Mr. President, we can act. Right now, the House-Senate conference 
committee is meeting to resolve the competing ISTEA reauthorization 
bills. I sit on that conference committee. As part of this process, the 
Congress is going to make one decision--will we get tougher on drunk 
driving and enact laws that will save lives or will we fall prey to the 
liquor and restaurant lobbyists?
  Mr. President, this body has spoken about this issue. Two months ago, 
the Senate passed an amendment to prohibit open containers of alcohol 
in motor vehicles. It adopted a tough program to combat repeat 
offenders of drinking and driving. And by a 2 to 1 margin, the Senate 
voted to set a strict national drunk driving standard at .08 blood 
alcohol content. The Senate voted 62 to 32 for this life-saving 
measure. The House was not even able to vote on this issue. They were 
prevented from it.
  We can ask the question, Why? But we must carry the will of the 
Senate--of the people--through to completion. We want ``.08 in '98.'' 
We are now at the crossroads, and it is time to decide. The question 
comes up, Why? Why aren't the House Members permitted to vote on this 
issue? Well, it stops at a committee over there. The process is 
different than it is over here, and they do not even have to let a 
piece of legislation come up on the floor.

  And why? Why would they say no to a vote on this issue when parents 
lose children and children lose parents across this country in numbers 
that compare to our worst year in Vietnam? In full combat we lost about 
17,000 of our soldiers. In our country every year we lose more than 
17,000 people to drunk driving, and it does not have the same impact on 
our society. So we have to say, Why is it that it does not?
  If after coming so close we fail to enact .08 this year, the American 
people should charge this Congress with something I will call ``VUI,'' 
voting under the influence of the liquor lobby. That is where it stops. 
They say, ``You're going to kill our business,'' that ``You're going to 
arrest social drinkers.'' No, no, no. We are not saying anybody can't 
drink. They can drink as much as they want. They can fall off the bar 
stools, as long as they don't fall on me or my kids.
  The issue is whether, after having had a blood alcohol content level 
of .08, they ought to get behind a wheel. And we say no. I think the 
Senator from Ohio made it very clear. He said if he watched someone at 
a party or someone at a dinner, or something like that, have four 
drinks in an hour--a man my size would have five--on an empty stomach, 
to have your child get in the back seat of a car with that driver, I 
would say never, never. That is what we want to say across this 
country. Because every family is entitled to that kind of safety and 
security.
  In 1984, President Reagan signed a bill that I wrote over here to 
make the national drinking age 21 and eliminate blood borders. Those 
are the borders between States with different drinking ages. Since 
then, more than 10,000 lives have been saved, enough to fill a small 
town. That is 10,000 families that did not have to mourn or grieve the 
loss of a child or a parent or a brother or a sister--10,000 people. 
That is a lot of people.
  Now we have a different kind of blood border--the blood alcohol 
border. Right now a driver legally drunk in one of 16 .08 States merely 
has to drive over the border and--poof--he is legally sober again. We 
know that is wrong. And we know once you are over .08 you are too drunk 
to drive in any State.
  Consider this: Someone, again, of my height having had four glasses 
of wine in an hour--five glasses of wine; again, I am a little heavier 
than the average; five glasses of wine in an hour --on an empty 
stomach. That is too much. We are not saying, again, that people cannot 
drink. We are saying they cannot drink and drive.
  Think about the 6,000 families who will be spared the devastating 
loss of a loved one to a drunk driver over the course of a decade if we 
pass .08. Think of what it means. Thousands of parents now destined to 
lose a child will be able to read their little ones to sleep instead of 
looking at an empty bed; children now destined to lose a parent will 
wake up in a full and loving home.
  One year ago, Randy Frazier called the Congress to action. Randy's 
daughter, Ashley--people from Maryland--was killed by a .08 drunk 
driver. Randy said, ``It is time for the leadership and action here in 
Congress to draw a safer, saner, and more sensible line against 
impaired driving at .08. If we truly believe in family values, then .08 
ought to become the law of the land. Four beers in an hour''--four 
glasses of wine in an hour, on an empty stomach--``and getting behind 
the wheel of a car, in our estimation, is one definition of family 
violence.''

  Mr. President, it is decision time. The question is whether we are 
going to vote with our conscience. Are we going to vote under ``VUI,'' 
voting under the influence of the alcohol lobby? They poured people 
into this town. The Restaurant Association had 130 as reported by a 
newspaper, 130 lobbyists come in. They swarmed all over the House, and 
they got people to change their minds. Then they got people, as I said 
earlier, to be able to hold that bill from getting consideration. That 
is not the way law ought to be decided when it comes to American 
families. And we hope we are going to stand up to our responsibility as 
we pause to honor the victims of drunk driving.
  Let us be moved to action. We must enact tough drunk driving laws 
this year. It has to be ``.08 in '98.''
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. TORRICELLI addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.

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