Remarks Prepared for Delivery by Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Hanford Dole at the National Drunk and Drugged Driving Awareness Week Ceremonies

Dole, Elizabeth Hanford · 1983 · ROSA P / United States. Department of Transportation

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Summary

This document is a speech delivered by Elizabeth Hanford Dole, Secretary of Transportation, at the White House on December 13, 1983, during National Drunk and Drugged Driving Awareness Week. The address serves as a policy statement and call to action regarding highway safety, specifically focusing on the reduction of alcohol- and drug-impaired driving. The motivation for the speech is the persistent and high societal cost of drunk driving, which Dole characterizes as an unacceptable menace that requires sustained commitment beyond the ceremonial week. The text outlines the collaborative efforts of various stakeholders, including the President’s Commission on Drunk Driving, which had recently completed its work and submitted recommendations. Dole notes that the momentum generated by this commission would continue under a new National Commission on Drunk Driving, funded entirely by the private sector. The speech highlights the involvement of Congress, state legislatures, and private organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), RID, and the National Association of Women Highway Safety Leaders. These groups were engaged in activities ranging from candlelight vigils to awareness campaigns involving insurance industry leaders and automobile dealers. Dole emphasizes the human toll of impaired driving by citing specific recent tragedies, including the death of a nine-year-old girl in a Washington suburb, a jogger in Indiana, an infant in Texas, and a father in Maryland. These examples are used to argue that highway safety is the nation’s highest transportation priority. The Secretary proposes specific interventions to mitigate these risks, primarily focusing on increasing safety belt usage. She describes a successful incentive program implemented at the Department of Transportation, which raised employee safety belt usage from 23 percent to over 60 percent in a few months. She advocates for business leaders and employers to adopt similar incentive programs, framing safety belts as the "best and cheapest insurance" against drunk drivers. The significance of the speech lies in its framing of drunk driving as a collective societal problem requiring unified action from government, private sector, and community leaders. Dole challenges business executives to make a New Year’s resolution to improve safety in 1984, urging them to influence employee behavior and enlist others in the cause. The document underscores the transition from government-led commissions to private-sector-funded initiatives, reflecting a broader strategy to sustain public attention and legislative support for highway safety measures. It serves as a historical record of the federal government’s stance on impaired driving in the early 1980s, highlighting the role of public-private partnerships and behavioral incentives in addressing traffic fatalities.

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