[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
[June 10, 1995]
[Pages 843-844]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Radio Address
June 10, 1995

    Good morning. I know all Americans share my deep pride and joy in 
the safety of Captain Scott O'Grady. We're proud of his courage and his 
tenacity. And we are very grateful to our armed forces for his swift and 
brilliant rescue. I'm glad we have him back safe and secure.
    Today I want to talk about a very real threat to the safety and 
security of young Americans here at home: drunk driving. Drunk driving, 
especially by young people, is one of the most serious and one of the 
most avoidable threats to public health in America. I'm joined in the 
White House by members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Students 
Against Drunk Driving, AAA, and the National Safety Council. In no small 
measure because of the determined work of private organizations like 
these, we have taken some very important steps over the last decade to 
reduce drunk driving.
    Most of us who were Governors of our States during that period 
strengthened our own laws against drunk driving. In 1984, President 
Reagan signed a bill giving States a strong incentive to raise their 
drinking age to 21. Today, that is the law of the land in every State. 
As a result, teenagers can no longer drive to neighboring States with 
lower drinking ages. This happened all the time before we had a uniform 
drinking age, and all too often with tragic consequences.
    The crime bill I signed into law last year puts tough new penalties 
on the books for people who drive drunk with children in their cars. It 
also makes it easier for States to prosecute anybody who drives under 
the influence of drugs or alcohol. And deaths due to drinking and 
driving have dropped as a result of the progress we've made, 30 percent 
in the last 12 years. The number of people under 21 killed because of 
drunk driving has dropped 50 percent since 1984.
    This is good progress, and I expect the new penalties in the crime 
bill will help to improve things even more. But it's not good enough. 
Some 18,000 people will die this year because someone sat down at the 
wheel after sitting down at a bar. That's about one every 30 minutes. 
Well over a million people will be injured, one every 26 seconds.
    This may sound unbelievable; it's certainly unacceptable. But over 
40 percent of all Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash 
at some time in their lives. Twenty-two hundred people were killed last 
year because of young drivers who were drinking and driving. Of that 
group, 1,600 were young people themselves. There's something wrong in 
America when hundreds and hundreds of our young people are dying because 
hundreds and hundreds of our young people are drinking and driving.
    In most States, drunk driving is defined as a blood alcohol content 
of .1 percent. When underage drinkers become underage drunk drivers, I 
believe we should go further. I want Congress to call on the States to 
adopt zero tolerance laws for teenage drinking and driving. A blood 
alcohol content of .02 percent, the equivalent of one beer, one wine 
cooler, or one shot of alcohol, should be enough to trigger the drunk 
driving penalties for people under 21. After all, if it's illegal for 
people under 21 to drink at all, it should certainly be illegal for them 
to drink and drive. That's a no-brainer.
    Zero tolerance will save lives. It's already saving lives in 24 
States, including my home State. Alcohol-related crashes are down 10 to 
20 percent in those States overall. And in some States like Maine and 
New Mexico, all fatal crashes at night involving young people actually 
dropped by one-third after they adopted a zero tolerance law. 
Unfortunately, there are still 26 States, including large States like 
New York, Texas, and Florida, that draw thousands of vacationing 
teenagers every year, without these zero tolerance laws. It's time to 
have zero tolerance for underage drunk driving all across America, not 
just in some States.
    As we redefine the relationships between States and the Federal 
Government, it is clear there are many things the States can do better 
than we can do in Washington. And I've done as much as I could to push 
more authority and decisionmaking back down to the States, to encourage 
innovation in important areas like welfare and health care reform. But 
there are other things that are so important to our safety, our 
security, to our children, and our future that

[[Page 844]]

the Federal Government has a responsibility to act.
    I don't think there's any question that the fight against teenage 
drunk driving demands national action. Congress should make zero 
tolerance the law of the land. Drinking and driving don't mix for 
anyone. They certainly shouldn't be mixed by teenagers. The faster we 
act, the sooner the States will act and the more lives we'll save. Let's 
get to it.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 11:07 a.m. on June 9 in the Roosevelt 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on June 10. In his 
remarks, the President referred to Capt. Scott O'Grady, USAF, who was 
rescued after being shot down and stranded in western Bosnia.