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<title>Clinton Wants New Drunk Driving Law</title>
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<meta name="lead" content="President Clinton today urged Congress to lower the blood-alcohol level for drunken driving, saying new research shows millions of Americans take a drink or a drug just before taking the steering wheel. ">
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<h5>December 26, 1998</h5><br>
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<h2>Clinton Wants New Drunk Driving Law</h2>
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<p><b>Filed at 10:06 a.m. EST</b><p>
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<p>           WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Clinton today urged Congress to
lower the blood-alcohol level for drunken driving, saying new
research shows millions of Americans take a drink or a drug just
before taking the steering wheel.
<p>           In his weekly radio address, Clinton asked Congress to enact
legislation next year to make a blood-alcohol content of .08
percent the national legal limit for driving while intoxicated.
That level currently is used by 16 states and the District of
Columbia.
<p>           The Senate earlier this year voted to penalize states that did
not adopt the .08 standard, but the House refused to go along and
the provision was left out of the six-year, $203 billion highway
and mass transit spending bill that Congress passed in May.
<p>           The president said he felt compelled to issue his call during
the Christmas holidays, when more alcohol is flowing at parties. He
noted that 1,300 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes in
December 1997 -- during a year in which such deaths were at an
all-time low -- and urged Americans to be more cautious this year.
<p>           ``Think before getting behind the wheel,'' Clinton said. ``If
you've had too much to drink, hand your keys to a designated
driver. Together, we can make sure the new year is, indeed, a safe
and happy one for all Americans.''
<p>           Clinton noted a new survey that showed in 1996, 28 percent of
American drivers -- 46.5 million people -- used drugs, alcohol or
both within two hours of driving.
<p>           The majority of those, 38 million, drank alcohol, according to
the survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration. The study was based on interviews with 12,000
drivers and data from the 1996 National Household Survey on Drug
Abuse.
<p>           ``The sight of a car weaving through traffic is an
all-too-familiar and frightening one for many Americans,'' Clinton
said. ``Ask any parent, any family, anyone who has lost a loved one
to an alcohol-related crash. One impaired driver is one too many.''
<p>           Clinton announced today that the Justice Department is making
$25 million available to states to help block the sale and
consumption of alcohol by youth aged 15 to 20, saying one-third of
vehicle fatalities in that age group are alcohol-related.
<p>           He also announced a new rule by the Department of Transportation
that strengthens state efforts to curb impaired driving. The rule
sets new criteria under which states can qualify for anti-DUI
grants, such as issuing licenses to young drivers on a graduated
basis, testing blood-alcohol levels in fatal car crashes and
establishing programs to target driving and driving among people
aged 21 to 34.
<p>           The grants are issued under the Alcohol-Impaired Driving Grant
Incentive Program. Signed into law by Clinton last summer, they are
authorized at $219.5 million over six years.
<p>           But lowering the blood-alcohol content would be the most
effective way to handle the problem, Clinton said.
<p>           ``I am determined to succeed in setting a .08 standard in the
new year,'' Clinton said. ``It's the right thing to do.''
<p>           

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