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555 Dirksen Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Ph: 202.224.6342
Fax: 202.224.1100
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Raleigh Office:
310 New Bern Avenue
Suite 122
Raleigh, NC 27601
Ph: 919.856.4630
Toll Free: 866.420.6083
Fax: 919.856.4053
Salisbury Office:
225 North Main Street
Suite 304
Salisbury, NC 28144
Ph: 704.633.5011
Toll Free: 866.420.6084
Fax: 704.633.2937
Western Office:
401 North Main Street
Suite 200
Hendersonville, NC 28792
Ph: 828.698.3747
Fax: 828.698.1267
Eastern Office:
306 South Evans Street
Greenville, NC 27835
Ph: 252.329.1093
Fax: 252.329.1097
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Speeches
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DOLE RECEIVES ADVOCATES FOR HIGHWAY AND AUTO SAFETY 'LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD'
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December 6th, 2007 - Thank you ladies and gentlemen for that wonderful, warm welcome. It is an incredible honor to receive this award, and I congratulate my friend and fellow award recipient Joan Claybrook. It has been a privilege to work over the years with Joan and so many folks who commit their lives and careers to improving public safety. Ladies and gentlemen, what can be more important than saving lives and preventing crippling, disabling injuries? I am so proud that thanks to the work of my incredible team at the Department of Transportation – folks like Jim Burnley, Mari Will, Jenna Dorn, Phil Hasseltine, and Diane Steed, many of whom are here today – we were able to implement measures that have led to today’s standard of airbags installed in every passenger motor vehicle in this country.
Folks, on the subject of airbags, when I went before the Senate Commerce Committee to be confirmed as Secretary of Transportation, Bob Dole introduced me. Paraphrasing Nathan Hale, he said, “I regret that I have but one wife to give for my country’s infrastructure.” Now that part was fine – so far, so good – but then he suggested the Federal Highway Administration might consider using my biscuit recipe to fill potholes! I achieved some revenge when I fired back that I knew all about airbags – I had been driving around with one for years!
At the Department of Transportation, I never did take Bob’s recommendation for fixing potholes, but I did make improving safety in every area of transportation my top priority. On July 11, 1984, we issued Rule 208 requiring air bags or automatic safety belts in new vehicles, with the condition that if states representing two-thirds of the population passed effective seat belt laws within five years, the rule would be suspended. Our goal was simple: to save as many lives as possible as quickly as possible.
As many of you know, the whole idea behind Rule 208 was to spawn a competition between the automobile manufacturers, who wanted state safety belt laws, and the insurance companies, who wanted airbags. And it worked – we got both. The key in Rule 208 was that state laws had to meet our stiff federal criteria, and by design, the criteria were very tough. This successfully resolved a 17-year dispute that spanned 4 administrations.
No state in July 1984 had passed a safety belt law, usage was 13 percent, and air bags were virtually non-existent. In fact, I had to look all over to find a car with an air bag to place on the White House lawn for the President and Cabinet to examine. And consumer acceptance was low. Many people thought air bags would go off crossing the railroad tracks. Thanks to Rule 208, today 49 states have belt laws and national belt use is 82 percent and climbing. There are more than 177 million air bag-equipped vehicles on the road. And as a result, there are many real-life stories similar to that of Terri and Dominic, where tragedies have been averted and family members and friends have been spared the loss of a loved one in an automobile accident.
The very same week in 1984 that the landmark safety belt and air bag rule was implemented, President Reagan also signed the National Uniform Minimum Drinking Age Act, which came to be known as the 21 Minimum Drinking Age Law. It was a privilege to work with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Senators Frank Lautenberg and Richard Lugar and others to raise the drinking age to 21 across our nation. Statistics of teens driving across state borders to a neighbor state with a lower drinking age, then driving back under the influence of alcohol, convinced me of the dire need to eliminate these “blood borders” – to prevent disabling, crippling injuries and save thousands of lives. And it has – to date, 23,000 lives have been spared.
We succeeded in making these historic improvements in automotive safety, thanks to the efforts of many dedicated individuals and organizations. Since 1984, an estimated 228,500 lives have been saved through this safety trifecta – the 21 Drinking Age, state safety belt laws, and air bags.
My passion for improving public safety didn’t end after Rule 208 and Age 21. In fact, during my time at the Transportation Department, we became the first civilian department to institute random drug testing of employees. The program was designed to protect individual dignity, privacy and confidentiality, and at the same time, ensure that individuals in critical safety and security-related positions were not using drugs. At the Transportation Department, we also worked to implement legislation that removed the ability of law-breaking truck drivers to hide behind multiple licenses from different states and to require that anyone who operates large trucks or buses is qualified to drive those vehicles.
The desire to improve public safety continued to shape my goals when I served as the president of the American Red Cross. There, one of the major areas where we focused was improving the safety of the blood supply. We launched and successfully completed “Transformation,” a $287 million, 7-year conversion of an essentially World War II blood infrastructure to a centralized, state-of-the-art blood operation.
As a Senator from North Carolina, I am so proud that my home state has a very good record when it comes to highway safety. Our state has primary safety belt laws, and safety belt usage is well above the national average. In fact, we had one of the nation’s first “click it or ticket” campaigns started in 1993. Chuck Hurley, who is serving today as president of MADD, deserves much of the credit.
In the Senate, one of my priorities is securing additional funds for North Carolina’s transportation infrastructure. We are a rapidly growing state, and we must have the infrastructure that not only accommodates this increase in population, but also does it safely. I recently cosponsored with Ron Wyden a measure called the Build America Bonds Act, to help fund much needed new transportation construction and repair of the nation’s aging roads, rail lines and bridges. By providing $50 billion in additional federal transportation funding, this legislation would empower states to complete critical infrastructure projects.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you again for this honor. And thanks to all of you who dedicate your careers to the mission of improving public safety. I look forward to continuing our work together.
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: television clip