Lifesaving Law Championed by the Honorable Elizabeth Dole
Recognized as the Model for Current Bipartisan Effort to End Drunk
Driving
WASHINGTON, July 16,
2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Forty years ago on
July 17, President Ronald Reagan signed the Minimum Legal Drinking
Age-21 Law, alongside drunk driving victims and survivors from
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD),
then-U.S. Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole, and Congressional sponsors. Over
the last four decades, this landmark federal law has saved more
than 30,000 lives and has served as a blueprint for MADD's
efforts to end impaired driving.
"The 21 legal drinking age is one of the
most researched public health laws of our time, and its impact on
reducing drunk driving deaths among young people is unparalleled,"
said MADD CEO Stacey D.
Stewart.
"The 21 legal drinking age is one of the most researched public
health laws of our time, and its impact on reducing drunk driving
deaths among young people is unparalleled," said MADD CEO
Stacey D. Stewart.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
estimates approximately 800 to 900 lives are saved every year as a
result of setting the minimum legal drinking age in the U.S. at
21.
"MADD will be forever grateful for the victims and survivors who
fought so hard for this lifesaving law, and we will never forget
the extraordinary leadership of then-U.S. Transportation Secretary
Dole," said Stewart, who will present Dole with a MADD Lifetime
Achievement Award for the Minimum Legal Drinking Age-21 Law.
"Secretary Dole's sustained safety leadership should inspire us
all to commit to ending drunk driving," added Stewart. "Today, we
know that the key to solving this public health crisis is ensuring
every new car is equipped with impaired driving prevention
technology. We need the same kind of safety leadership today, in
the spirit of that historic day in 1984."
The 21-drinking-age law was signed within a week of Secretary
Dole's directive on seat belts and airbags. Her bold action
resulted in the proliferation of vehicle airbags and a rise in seat
belt use from 13% in 1984 to 92% today. According to USDOT data,
these three lifesaving measures have saved more than 500,000 lives
over the past 40 years.
Even with these extraordinary safety advances, drunk driving
remains the leading cause of deaths on U.S. roads, killing more
than 13,000 people in 2022. Alarmingly, drunk driving deaths have
spiked 33% since 2019.
In November 2021, after years of
advocacy by victims and survivors working with MADD, President
Joe Biden signed bipartisan
legislation – The HALT Drunk Driving Act - into law that will lead
to anti-drunk driving technology being built into all new cars. The
law directs the USDOT to establish a federal regulation for the
technology by November 2024, then
gives automakers two to three years to build the required
technology into every car that rolls off their assembly line.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, when fully
implemented, the technology will save 10,000 lives every year.
"I have worked hand in hand with MADD for more than forty years.
As many know, I lost an uncle to a drunk driver, and the impact on
my grandmother and mother was lifelong," said Secretary Dole.
"Advanced vehicle technologies now allow us to finish the job and
eliminate drunk driving. These technologies must be phased in as
soon as they become available."
Earlier this year, the USDOT and NHTSA published an Advance
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the technology and received
thousands of responses from the auto industry, technology
companies, advocates and the public. Those comments are under
review. NHTSA's next steps will be to publish the proposed
regulation, collect more feedback during a 60-day public comment
period, and then issue the final rule.
For more information on the law (known as the Honoring the Abbas
Legacy to Terminate (HALT) Drunk Driving Act) and its requirements,
visit madd.org/haltact.
About Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Mothers Against Drunk Driving® (MADD) is the nonprofit leader in a
movement to create a world where there are #NoMoreVictims of
impaired driving. By working in collaboration with law enforcement
to end underage drinking and all drunk and drugged driving, MADD
has helped reduce drunk driving deaths by more than 50%, saving
more than 400,000 lives. The organization is a vocal advocate for
tougher sentencing, new laws and new technology, including
implementation of the Halt Act. MADD also has provided supportive
services to nearly one million victims of drunk and drugged driving
at no charge through local victim advocates and its 24-Hour Victim
Help Line 1-877-MADD-HELP. For more information or to make a
donation, visit us at https://madd.org/ and follow MADD on
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Media Contact
Katie Alvino, Mothers Against
Drunk Driving, 877.275.6233, media@madd.org, madd.org
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content:https://www.prweb.com/releases/madd-celebrates-americas-21-drinking-age-law-turning-40-302198461.html
SOURCE Mothers Against Drunk Driving