Anti-Drunk-Driving Bill to Use Carrot, Not Stick

Congress will use incentives, not drunk-driving mandates, in an attempt to reduce alcohol-related road deaths, U.S. lawmakers said Monday.

The decision to coax the states to lower allowable blood-alcohol levels, rather than to force change, resulted from negotiations between House and Senate conferees. They are trying to finalize a $200-billion transportation bill before Congress recesses Friday.

The Senate had overwhelmingly approved an amendment to its transportation package to force all 50 states to lower blood-alcohol levels to 0.08% from the more uniform 0.10% level. States that did not comply would have jeopardized millions in transportation funds earmarked for their use. (California already uses 0.08%.)

But the House legislation favored the incentive track.

Sen. John H. Chafee (R-R.I.) was disappointed with the decision.

” . . . I was disappointed that we weren’t able to keep it as a sanctions program, but nonetheless we made tremendous progress on where we are because the 0.08 is reinforced with a $500-million program over the six years for incentives to adopt the 0.08,” Chafee said.

Provisions that would force states to ban open alcohol containers in cars, toughen mandatory punishments for repeat drunk-driving offenders and reward safety-belt usage strengthened the bill, Chafee said.

Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.), the chamber’s most vocal proponent for the mandate, was miffed at the decision to keep the measure out of the final bill. Lautenberg called the $500-million pool for rewarding states “a pitiful sum.”

Rep. Bud Shuster (R-Pa.), who chairs the transportation conference, said he expects Senate and House floor votes on Friday.