SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY

LENGTH: 2458 words

COMMITTEE: SENATE APPROPRIATIONS

SUBCOMMITTEE: TRANSPORTATION

HEADLINE: FISCAL 2003 APPROPRIATIONS

TESTIMONY-BY: MILLIE I. WEBB, NATIONAL PRESIDENT

BODY:
Testimony of Millie I. Webb National President, Mothers Against Drunk Driving Hearing on Highway Transportation Safety Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and Related Agencies

February 27, 2002

INTRODUCTION

Good morning, Madam Chair and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee. My name is Millie Webb, and I am the National President of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). MADD is a non- profit grass roots organization with more than 600 chapters nationwide. Our mission is to stop drunk driving, support the victims of this violent crime and prevent underage drinking.

I am honored to be here today testifying in such good company. Dr. Runge, Chairman Blakey, and Superintendent McMahon are among the nation's top safety leaders but perhaps more importantly, they are three of the nation's top safety heroes. I also want to thank you, Madam Chair and the Members of the Subcommittee, for your leadership in the passage of the lifesaving national .08 percent blood alcohol concentration standard. We are looking forward to working with this Subcommittee and with Congress to achieve a FY 2003 transportation appropriation that properly addresses traffic safety and to shape proposals for the reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act of the 21St Century (TEA-21).

Last year the nation experienced the largest percentage increase in alcohol-related traffic deaths on record. In 2000, an alarming 16,653 people were killed in traffic crashes involving alcohol, representing 40 percent of the 41,821 people killed in all traffic crashes. Each of these deaths - the deaths of our precious loved ones - was 100 percent preventable.

As a result of this unprecedented increase in alcohol-related traffic fatalities, MADD held an Impaired Driving Summit in January. Many of the country's traffic safety experts came together at the Summit to discuss what could be done in the short- term and long-term to save lives and prevent injuries. Formal recommendations from the Summit will be released in the spring, but I can tell you that lifesaving legislation, aggressive enforcement, effective prosecution, and significant funding will be among the top recommendations.

We believe the Summit was an important step forward in the fight against drunk driving. The nation needs to reenergize and refocus on the fight to stop drunk driving. It's time to get MADD all over again.

The traffic safety field has set the goal of no more than 11,000 alcohol-related traffic deaths by 2005. However, in order to reach the goal, we will need more money to be spent on effective programs and a renewed passion for making progress in this area. We need the public's energy and the political will to shake us out of a deadly plateau and back on the road to progress. Ultimately, one death is too many and MADD would like to reach a goal of zero alcohol-related traffic fatalities.

OVERVIEW

As someone whose life was forever altered because of someone's careless decision to get behind the wheel after drinking, I would like to briefly share my story as a way to define the need for appropriate and aggressive funding for traffic safety programs.

On August 14, 1971, my husband, Roy, and I were returning home from Nashville. In our car were our nineteen-month-old nephew, Mitchell, and our four-year-old daughter, Lori. At the time, I was also seven months pregnant with our second child. Suddenly and tragically our lives were forever changed. A man with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 percent rear-ended our car, causing it to burst into flames. My family was catapulted onto the roadway. Roy, with his bare hands, extinguished the flames that engulfed myself, Lori, and Mitchell.

With a broken neck and burns that covered 73 percent of my body, doctors and nurses worked to save me and the life of my then unborn daughter, Kara. Our condition was so precarious that it would be weeks before Roy and I were told little Mitchell died 6 hours after the crash and that our beautiful daughter, Lori, had suffered two weeks before dying from burns covering 75 percent of her body.

Despite the loss of my daughter, Lori, and my nephew, Mitchell, my family received a blessing through the birth of my baby Kara. Although born prematurely and legally blind as a result of the crash, Kara has overcome her limited sight through her determination not to be imprisoned by negativity or darkness. While her sight maybe weak, her insight is great.

TRAFFIC SAFETY FUNDING

When our crash occurred, drunk driving laws and public perception were much different than they are today. Since 1982, more than 200,000 lives have been saved through the passage of new laws, strict enforcement and prosecution and increased awareness. But we have not won the war and there is much more work to be done in the fight against drunk driving. Complacency is our biggest enemy.

Madam Chair, as you consider your funding priorities, I would like to provide you and your colleagues with an overview of MADD's transportation appropriation and TEA-21 reauthorization priorities.

NHTSA's traffic safety budget is woefully inadequate. Each year, traffic crashes cause the loss of over 40,000 lives and hundreds of thousands of serious injuries. The resulting damage to America's economy is over $150 billion each and every year. In spite of these appalling human and economic losses, NHTSA's annual budget is only $400 million.

Currently, NHTSA's overall budget does not reflect the importance of the drunk driving problem. Effective solutions to America's drunk driving problem require effective resources. The FY 2003 requested budget reflects a nearly $3 million decrease for the Impaired Driving Division from the FY 2002 enacted budget. With drunk driving deaths on the rise, MADD cannot understand how NHTSA's FY 2003 Impaired Driving Division would be able to reach its goals to reduce drunk driving deaths and injuries with even fewer resources.

Although alcohol is a factor in 40 percent of all traffic deaths, only 26 percent of all funding available to the states through TEA-21 is spent on alcohol-impaired driving countermeasures. Too often highway safety funding made available to the states is used for highway construction projects or other programs that do not advance our mutual goals to save lives and prevent injuries. Most significantly, the purpose of Section 402 within TEA-21 is to support state highway safety programs designed to reduce traffic crashes and resulting death and injuries, but only 17 percent of the Section 402 funds go to alcohol-impaired driving countermeasures.

Drunk driving is a national epidemic that demands significantly more resources than are currently being allocated. To combat this public health problem, Mothers Against Drunk Driving calls for the establishment of a dedicated National Traffic Safety Fund to provide substantially increased resources for priority traffic safety programs. The most effective way to reduce motor vehicle crash fatalities and injuries and the costs with which they are associated is through highway safety programs that focus on the prevention of impaired driving, and increased safety belt and child restraint use.

It has been estimated that for every dollar spent on effective highway safety programs, about $30 is saved by society in the reduced costs of crashes. MADD recommends earmarked revenues of at least $1 billion annually for the National Traffic Safety Fund, a sum that is still less than 1 percent of what this public health problem costs Americans each year. It is time to accelerate the federal government's effort to reduce the devastating and costly consequences of motor vehicle crashes.

The traffic safety and public health community knows what will work to save lives and prevent injuries on our highways. But, we need more funding for programs that have been proven to work. One of the most effective ways to fight drunk driving is to conduct frequent, highly visible, highly publicized sobriety checkpoints across the country. In Tennessee and New York, these enforcement efforts have significantly reduced drunk driving. "Checkpoint Tennessee" was a weekly sobriety checkpoint program piloted by NHTSA that resulted in a 20 percent reduction in alcohol-related fatal crashes extending at least 21 months after the conclusion of the program. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently reviewed six different studies and concluded that sobriety checkpoints were highly effective in reducing alcohol-related traffic fatalities and injuries. However, numerous researchers conclude that sobriety checkpoints are not being used as widely as needed due in large part to a lack of resources. MADD would like to request that the Subcommittee dedicate resources to sobriety checkpoint programs.

I want to thank the Subcommittee for allocating funds in the FY 2002 budget to conduct paid advertising in conjunction with seat belt enforcement mobilizations. A person's best defense against a drunk driver is his or her seatbelt. Additionally, a recent Centers for Disease Control study found that two of every three children who die in alcohol-related traffic crashes died while riding as passengers in vehicles driven by intoxicated adult drivers. Clearly occupant protection plays an important role in the fight against drunk driving.

MADD would like to request that the Subcommittee consider allocating money to conduct additional enforcement efforts in conjunction with the national "You Drink & Drive. You Lose." impaired driving enforcement mobilizations. Again, highly visible enforcement efforts have proven to save lives and prevent injuries and MADD urges that these types of efforts be given top priority in allocating highway safety funding.

.08 PERCENT BLOOD ALCOHOL CONCENTRATION (BAC)

In October 2000, Congress passed .08 BAC as the national standard for impaired driving as part of the Transportation Appropriations Bill, and I want to thank you once more for that action. States that don't adopt .08 BAC laws by 2004 would have 2 percent of certain highway construction funds withheld, with the penalty increasing to 8 percent by 2007.

Prior to the passage of this law, approximately one state per year was adopting the .08 standard. Since 2001, ten states have enacted this standard. MADD will fight any attempt to eliminate or weaken the .08 standard.

REPEAT/ HIGH RISK OFFENDERS

Nationally, 58 percent of the alcohol-related traffic fatalities in 2000 involved drivers with a BAC of .15 percent and above. About one-third of all drivers arrested or convicted of driving while intoxicated are repeat offenders. Both types of drivers represent a special danger on our roads.

This is why MADD developed the "Higher-Risk Driver Program," aimed at protecting the public from these dangerous drivers while at the same time addressing their alcohol abuse problem. To address high-risk offenders, MADD advocates mandatory sentencing, strict licensing and vehicle sanctions, and efforts to address substance abuse. We will work to incorporate elements from our Higher-Risk Driver Program in to the TEA-21 reauthorization.

States need to focus on comprehensive systems of laws that will address this hard-to-reach population, and all too often this legislation is only enacted on a piecemeal basis. These offenders must receive meaningful license restrictions, effective vehicle sanctions, and adequate treatment for alcohol problems.

MADD will also be working for better data systems. Every state should have an adequate DUI tracking system to record the outcome of each DU I arrest so that it will be possible to identify plea bargains, pretrial diversions, or other operational problems. Such tracking systems would be very helpful in identifying repeat offenders. In too many states, repeat offenders are classified incorrectly as first-time offenders. It is imperative that state data systems are improved and that a better system for states to share this data be put into place.

UNDERAGE DRINKING

Young drivers make up 6.9 percent of the total driving population, but constitute 13 percent of the alcohol-involved drivers in fatal crashes despite the fact that alcohol is an illegal product for those under 21. MADD supports federal efforts to fund programs that promote greater consistency in the enforcement, prosecution and adjudication of youthful offenders.

Research published in the American Journal of Public Health shows that the earlier a person begins drinking, the more likely they are to suffer from alcohol-related problems later in life including alcohol dependency and drunk driving. Therefore, underage drinking prevention is a key part of preventing future drunk driving tragedies.

OPEN CONTAINER

In 1998, as part of TEA-21, a new Federal program was established to encourage state adoption of open container laws. To avoid the transfer of funds, states must certify that their open container law complies with certain requirements, that the law is in effect, and that it is being enforced.

Currently, 34 states and the District of Columbia have complied with the terms of this law. However, as written the law allows for funding to be redirected to either highway safety or Hazard Elimination, and this ability to direct money into Hazard Elimination weakens the value of the federal law.

While the Hazard Elimination program is important, open container is an antidrunk driving countermeasure, and if states fail to enact the law the redirected money should be spent on highway safety programs that reduce drunk driving deaths and injuries.

Some states have refused to enact open container legislation and have simply transferred funds into their Hazard Elimination programs. This loophole needs to be corrected, otherwise many states are simply engaging in a "shell game."

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I hope my statements today offer some insight into MADD's policy positions and how we can accomplish our mutual goal to save lives and prevent injuries. It is critical that this transportation budget provide adequate and predictable funding for priority traffic safety programs.

With this Subcommittee's leadership, and the active participation of our federal, state, local and private sector partners, MADD will continue our fight to reduce the number of deaths and fatalities caused by drunk drivers. I would like to commend the Subcommittee for its continued leadership by scheduling this hearing.

Madam Chair, and distinguished members of the Subcommittee, I thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. I would be pleased to take questions now, and to respond to written questions following the hearing.



LOAD-DATE: March 4, 2002