[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 48 (Monday, December 6, 1999)]
[Pages 2484-2485]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7257--National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month, 
1999

November 30, 1999

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Drivers who operate motor vehicles while under the influence of 
alcohol or drugs are one of our Nation's greatest public safety risks; 
those drivers take advantage of the privilege of driving without 
assuming the corresponding responsibility of driving safely. In 1996 
alone, more than 46 million Americans drove their cars within 2 hours of 
using drugs, alcohol, or both, causing death or injury to themselves and 
thousands of others each year.
    Thanks to the grassroots activism of organizations such as Mothers 
Against Drunk Driving, greater public awareness of the dangers of 
impaired driving, and stronger laws and stricter enforcement, we have 
made progress in our efforts to keep drunk and drugged drivers off the 
road and reduce alcohol-related fatalities. Last year, the number of 
people killed in alcohol-related crashes reached a record low, and the 
number of young people killed in such accidents fell to the lowest rate 
ever recorded. But as anyone who has lost a loved one to an alcohol-
related crash will attest, one impaired driver on the road is one too 
many.
    That is why safety continues to be my Administration's top 
transportation priority, and that is why we remain committed to 
eliminating drunk and drugged driving. Because research shows that the 
risk of a fatal car crash significantly increases when a driver's blood 
alcohol content (BAC) exceeds .08, I continue to challenge the Congress 
to enact a tough national standard of impaired driving at .08 BAC. In 
support of this goal, last July Vice President Gore announced incentive 
grants totaling $57 million to 17 States and the District of Columbia 
for lowering the legal threshold for drunk driving to .08 BAC. These 
grants make up part of the more than $500 million in Federal grants 
authorized under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, 
which I signed into law June 9, 1998, to offer States incentives to 
enact and enforce laws that make driving with .08 BAC or greater a drunk 
driving offense.
    I am pleased that today, thanks to legislation I signed in 1995, 
every State in our Nation and the District of Columbia has enacted zero 
tolerance laws for underage drinking and driving. I urge leaders and 
policymakers at the State and local level to continue to focus resources 
and public attention on drunk- and drugged-driving prevention and 
enforcement programs. Using these three powerful tools--increased public 
awareness, stronger laws, and tougher enforcement--we can make our 
neighborhoods and highways safer and continue to reduce deaths and 
injuries.
    In memory of the thousands of people who have lost their lives to 
alcohol- and drug-impaired driving, I ask that all motorists participate 
once again this year in a ``National Lights on for Life Day.'' By 
driving with car headlights illuminated on Friday, December 17, 1999, we 
will underscore the profound responsibility each of us has to drive free 
from the influence of alcohol or drugs.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by

[[Page 2485]]

the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim 
December 1999 as National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month. I 
urge all Americans to recognize the dangers of impaired driving, to take 
responsibility for themselves and others around them, to prevent anyone 
under the influence of alcohol or drugs from getting behind the wheel, 
and to help teach our young people about the importance of safe driving.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day 
of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, 
and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred 
and twenty-fourth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:59 a.m., December 3, 
1999]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on December 1, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
December 6.