Bart Stupak: “I was a police officer for 13 years during this time from 1975 to 1998, and if we look at this article from 1999, it…”

“I was a police officer for 13 years during this time from 1975 to 1998, and if we look at this article from 1999, it says ``death by the gallon.'' From 1975 to 1998, we had 46,000 more deaths on the highways because we were driving smaller cars and trying to obtain the CAFE standard, the fuel efficiency. So we bring smaller cars in, and it results in more deaths on the highway. And as the chairman quoted, the National Academy of Sciences found in 2001, in their report on CAFE, reducing the size and weight of vehicles affects vehicle safety, increases the likelihood of traffic fatalities on the highways. The better way to increase fuel economy throughout is the development and the advancement of technologies like are found in this bill in hybrid and fuel cells. The acoumeters are already moving these technologies into the marketplace. To go with the standard proposed by the proponents of this new CAFE standard of a 5 percent, we would have to get the 30 miles, which is not even in the marketplace right now. Reject this amendment.”