Call to Action: Surface Transportation Authorization Act
The Surface Transportation Authorization Act on Capitol Hill needs your support. We stand with MADD on the vital importance of two issues in that bill that need to get passed. Specifically a measure to require states to intact a bill requiring Ignition Interlock Devices in vehicles owned by every single person convicted of drunk driving. Secondly in the same part of the bill, there is a provision to require states to pass and sign a primary seatbelt law requiring front seat passengers to buckle up.
While some may disagree with the feds tactics with respect to these laws, I fully agree and support how they strong-arm states by threatening to take a huge chunk of federal highway dollars from the state if they fail to pass both these acceptable laws. I would not support, nor have the feds tried these tactics in other situations. Strong-arm legislation towards the states is called for with respect to safety, because too few states give a rat’s patoot about highway safety without strong leverage. So when it comes to actually saving lives, the tactics are appropriate, as it should be. It is treading dangerous ground with respect to the constitutional separation of powers, but the lives saved will be worth it.
Just think of a nation where drunk drivers kill just a few handfuls of people a year, and highway fatalities drop by half! That is possible and within reach if this measure passes congress and gets signed.
There is grumbling afoot even from the President to delay this bill. The nations deficit continues to climb, and these two provisions being just a couple pages of the bill, the rest of it packed with spending on the nations roads and infrastructure, it’s understandable that we might want to lay low on it for a while.
If that ends up being the case, somehow, we must as a nation get these two provisions pulled out of the bill and passed on their own merit without being choked with the weeds of federal spending, as so many bills are.
We support MADD 100% in getting the Ignition Interlock provision passed, and the seat belt provision must go through as well, the sooner the better! We are right at the peak of seeing a dramatic shift in crashes being survivable, and those who otherwise would have been seriously injured, walk away from crashes. In states that have a primary seatbelt law, across the board have seen very dramatic rises in seatbelt use, and declines in highway deaths.
We’ve extracted pages 64 & 65 from the bill’s summary (PDF) for download or viewing in PDF capable browsers on this site for all who are interested you may download the entire blueprint document here
Please call both your Senators and your House representative and urge them to do everything possible to see these two provisions pass! This is an amazing opportunity to take action on a matter that will save thousands of lives a year; your action can and will make a difference!
Contact information for your Senators and House Representative can be found here. It may just save YOUR life!
