    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 53 (Monday, January 4, 1999)]
    [Pages 2531-2532]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    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. 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,

    [[Page 2532]]

    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.