[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book II)]
[December 26, 1998]
[Pages 2210-2211]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Radio Address
December 26, 1998

    Good morning. December is a month for families, a season of 
celebration and anticipation, especially for our children. But with 
alcohol flowing at parties and millions of families taking to the road 
to see friends and relatives, the holiday season can also be a season of 
tragedy.

[[Page 2211]]

Last December more than 1,300 Americans lost their lives in alcohol-
related crashes. Who knows how many presents under the Christmas tree 
were left unopened, presents for a child killed by a drunk driver.
    Today I want to talk about how we can work together to make our 
roads safer for our families. For a generation, drunk driving has been 
one of America's greatest public safety challenges. The sight of a car 
weaving through traffic is an all too familiar and frightening one for 
many Americans. Over the past decade, spurred to action by grassroots 
activists such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and with the leadership 
of the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration, America has worked hard to keep drunk drivers off 
our roads with increased public awareness, stronger laws, and stricter 
enforcement.
    My administration has made safety our number one transportation 
priority. In 1995 we helped States make it illegal for anyone under 21 
to drive with any amount of alcohol in their system. We put young people 
on notice: just one drink before driving--one beer, one glass of wine, 
one shot--and you can lose your license.
    There's good news to report. Last year the number of people killed 
in alcohol-related crashes dropped to an all-time low. For the first 
time since we started keeping track in 1975, alcohol-related deaths 
accounted for less than 40 percent of all traffic deaths and dropped by 
5 percent among 15- to 20-year-olds. But we have much more to do.
    In a report I'm releasing today, the Department of Health and Human 
Services estimates that in 1996 more than a quarter of all drivers--46.5 
million--used drugs, alcohol, or both within 2 hours of driving. Ask any 
parent, any family, anyone who has lost a loved one to an alcohol 
related crash: One impaired driver is one too many.
    So today I'm announcing that the Justice and Transportation 
Departments will strengthen their efforts in the new year, through 
grants to States and other incentives, to enforce underage drinking 
laws, to carry out alcohol impaired driving prevention programs, and to 
pass and enforce strong State highway safety legislation.
    The most effective action we can take to make our roads even safer 
is to set the national impaired driving standard at .08 percent blood 
alcohol content. No one will ever doubt that a person with that much 
blood alcohol is unfit to drive after meeting Brenda Frazier. This 
spring at the White House she described the horror of watching a drunk 
driver run over her 9-year-old daughter at a school bus stop. The 
driver's blood alcohol content: .08 percent.
    This year I worked with Members of Congress to make .08 the law of 
the land. Tragically, the special interests blocked this lifesaving 
measure. I am determined to succeed in setting a .08 standard in the new 
year. It's the right thing to do. In the meantime, I've asked 
Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater to work to make .08 the rule on 
Federal property. I commend the 16 States and the District of Columbia 
who have already adopted the stricter standard.
    But every American family also must take responsibility for safer 
roads for all our families. Tell your neighbors and teach your own 
children about the dangers of drunk driving. And as we gather this week 
to ring in a new year, stop and think before getting behind the wheel. 
If you've had too much to drink, hand your keys to a designated driver. 
Together, we can make sure the new year is, indeed, a safe and happy one 
for all Americans.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 11:04 a.m. on December 24 in the 
Roosevelt Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on 
December 26. The transcript was made available by the Office of the 
Press Secretary on December 24 but was embargoed for release until the 
broadcast.