Good afternoon Chairman Hodge and subcommittee members. It is my pleasure to be here in Austin and talk about the National Transportation Safety Board’s recommendations for addressing hard core drinking drivers. I am pleased to be joined by our national partners; the Century Council and Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and AAA in supporting effective laws to prevent impaired driving including.

The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent Federal agency charged by Congress to investigate transportation accidents, determine their probable cause, and make recommendations to prevent their recurrence. The recommendations that arise from our investigations and safety studies are our most important product. The Safety Board has neither regulatory authority nor grant funds. In our 35-year history, organizations and government bodies have adopted more than 80 percent of our recommendations.

The Alcohol-Highway Safety Problem

The Safety Board has recognized for many years that traffic crashes are one of this nation’s most serious transportation safety problems. More than 90 percent of all transportation related deaths each year result from highway crashes. Approximately 40 percent of the highway deaths nationwide are alcohol-related. Unfortunately over the last five years, the proportion of alcohol-related fatalities has not been improving, although there was a slight decrease last year. This was likely due to the extensive enforcement and information efforts in 13 States, including Texas. History has shown that such intensive and costly efforts are unlikely to be sustained over a long period achieving permanent reductions. Improved legislation is needed to better identify, assess and treat offenders while deterring others from becoming DWI offenders. In that manner, permanent reductions can be achieved.

In 2003, impaired driving resulted in 17,013 alcohol-related fatalities nationwide, with hard core drinking drivers involved in almost 40 percent of these deaths. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates the cost of each fatality is over $977,000; thus alcohol-related fatal crashes cost society over $17 billion each year. We believe this to be a very conservative estimate. While the affected individual covers some of these costs, overall, those not directly involved in crashes pay for nearly three-quarters of all crash costs, primarily through insurance premiums, government paid health care costs, taxes, and travel delay. Clearly, much needs to be done to reduce this ongoing tragedy.

Here in Texas, 3,675 people died in traffic crashes in 2003, more than in any other State, except California (4,215). However, California has nearly 23 million licensed drivers, in comparison to the over 13 million licensed drivers in Texas. Further, 1,709, or 47 percent, of those deaths were alcohol-related. That is well above the national average of 41 percent. Indeed, only in 8 States is the rate of alcohol involvement in traffic deaths is higher than in Texas.

High Blood Alcohol Content Drivers

In 1988, the Safety Board investigated the worst alcohol-related highway collision in American history, the collision of a pick-up truck and a church activity bus in Carrollton, Kentucky. The crash killed 27 and injured 34 innocent people. The pick-up driver had been drinking and was traveling the wrong way on an Interstate. Ninety minutes after the crash, the pick-up driver’s blood alcohol content (BAC) was 0.26 percent. This individual was a hard core drinking driver.

The Safety Board defines hard core drinking drivers as individuals who drive with a BAC of 0.15 percent or greater, or who are arrested for or convicted of driving while intoxicated (DWI) within 10 years of a prior DWI arrest or conviction. From 1983 through 1998, at least 137,338 people died in crashes involving hard core drinking drivers.

The problem of hard core drinking drivers is complex. No single countermeasure appears to be sufficient to address hard core drinking drivers. These offenders require different approaches. We need a comprehensive system of prevention, apprehension, sanction, and treatment to reduce the crashes, injuries, and fatalities caused by these drivers. Experts agree that impaired drivers persist in their behavior because these drivers believe that they will not be caught and/or convicted. That perception is based on reality. An intoxicated person can drive from New York to Los Angeles and halfway back without being arrested.

In 1984, the Safety Board made a series of recommendations to address the problem of repeat offenders. Since those recommendations were issued, all States have made at least some efforts to address the alcohol-related highway safety problem, and considerable progress has been made in detecting, arresting, and adjudicating drinking drivers. However, the measures taken and the degree of implementation of the Safety Board’s 1984 recommendations by States and localities have not been uniform, and alcohol-related crashes continue to claim too many lives. The numbers have been static for the past 5 years, and have increased in the past 2 years.

In light of the thousands of deaths still resulting from these crashes, the Safety Board again focused its efforts on hard core drinking drivers in 2000. That report examined a variety of countermeasures to identify which of these actions have been effective in the specific States that have utilized them, and recommended a model program (attached) to reduce hard core drinking driving.

House Bill 51, the bill before you today, establishes the important principle that drivers with a high blood alcohol content, above 0.15 percent, are hard core drinking drivers, who demand special attention. This legislation is necessary to ensure proper identification, sanctioning, and treatment of high BAC offenders.

Drivers with a high BAC, 0.15 percent or greater, require strong intervention similar to that ordinarily prescribed for repeat offenders. Those who reach this high BAC level have consumed large amounts of alcohol, much more than is considered to be social or responsible drinking. High BAC offenders are also likely to be repeat offenders. Research has found that drivers with a high BAC are at a substantially greater risk of being involved in a fatal crash. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has estimated that the relative fatality risk for drivers in single-vehicle crashes with a high BAC is 385 times that of a zero-BAC driver and for male drivers the risk is 607 times that of a sober driver.

States with high BAC laws recognized that the treating all first offenders in a like manner, regardless of the aggravating factor of a high BAC, is now an out-of-date and even misguided approach. First offenders are no longer split equally among social drinkers, developing problem drinkers, and problem drinkers. National estimates indicate a very large proportion of first offenders with a high BAC have a substance use problem and are highly likely to recidivate. These first offenders require a significant intervention the very first time they are arrested. A high BAC is a very good indicator of an alcohol problem that requires sanction, treatment, and long-term follow-up to prevent subsequent offenses (such as vehicle sanctions or ignition interlocks).

At least 35 States and the District of Columbia have laws providing for an “extreme” or “aggravated” DWI offense. In these States, a first offender committing an aggravated alcohol offense can be subject to sanctions similar to those available for repeat offenders. This increases the likelihood of being more effective in reducing subsequent violations and crashes. Several other States are now considering legislation to add aggravated penalties for drivers with a high BAC.

Conclusion

The high number and proportion of alcohol-related fatalities in Texas makes it clear that, despite the best efforts of many, the DWI control system in Texas is not working effectively to reduce these preventable tragedies. We urge you to take action on this and other life-saving measures pending before the Texas Legislature this year. We are joined in the effort to reduce underage alcohol problems and hard core drinking driving by the Century Council, funded by the nation’s leading distillers, by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and by AAA. These organizations are our partners in the national Hard Core Drinking Driver Coalition.

Thank you for allowing the Safety Board to testify about legislation that you can enact to save lives on streets and highways in Texas. I would be pleased to answer any questions that you may have.