[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
[February 19, 1991]
[Pages 153-154]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Message to the Congress Transmitting Reports on Highway and Motor 
Vehicle Safety
February 19, 1991

To the Congress of the United States:
    It is my privilege to provide you with the annual reports on 
activities under the Highway Safety Act (23 U.S.C. 401 Note) and the 
National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 1408), both 
enacted in 1966. These reports provide an overview of our activities 
during calendar year 1989 and an overview of the National Highway 
Traffic Safety Administration's priority plan for the next 3 years. The 
plan will be an evolving guideline for the agency's safety activities to 
improve motor vehicle and traffic safety over the next several years.
    The plan includes motor vehicle rulemaking on the crashworthiness of 
passenger cars, light trucks, and vans; vehicle rollover stability; and 
safety improvements in heavy trucks, school buses, and child safety 
seats.
    It also calls for initiatives to promote

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State laws and programs to increase safety belt use, motorcycle helmet 
use, and to discourage drunk and drugged driving.
    The report on motor vehicle safety includes the annual reporting 
requirement in Title I of the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings 
Act of 1972 (bumper standards).
    In the Highway Safety Acts of 1973, 1976, and 1978, the Congress 
expressed its special interest in certain aspects of traffic safety that 
are addressed in the volume on highway safety.
    I am pleased to inform you that 1989 was a year of significant gains 
in traffic safety. The traffic fatality rate, the accepted measure of 
risk on the road, was 2.2 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, 
the lowest in history and down 33 percent since 1980. Safety belt use is 
also higher than ever, with 46 percent of Americans buckling up, and 
drunk driving fatalities have declined significantly.
    There is good news for Americans in virtually every critical part of 
the highway safety picture. The decline in the fatality rate is 
especially encouraging and means that we are able to drive with less 
risk, and the dramatic increase in safety belt use and public concern 
about drunk driving have translated into thousands of lives saved and 
injuries avoided.
    The progress we have made is, of course, no consolation to the 
relatives and friends of the 45,500 people who, despite the safety 
advances and greater public awareness, lost their lives in traffic 
accidents in 1989.
    As we continue to pursue highway and motor vehicle safety programs 
that are most effective in reducing deaths and injuries, we are 
convinced that significant progress in traffic safety can be achieved 
through the combined efforts of government, industry, and the public.

                                                             George Bush

The White House,
February 19, 1991.