Political Quotes

“I point out that with respect to the safety issues, the question is not whether on a cumulative basis there have been fewer fatalities since the implementation of CAFE standards. The question is what the consequence is or the correlation is between fatalities and CAFE standards. Since 1975, on a variety of fronts, safety efforts have gone forward to protect passengers and drivers in motor vehicles ranging from the introduction of airbags to State laws which require the use of seatbelts, primary laws that require the use of seatbelts to the introduction of countless child safety and passenger protection activities and child safety seats. One cannot draw that correlation. What one can, of course, do is follow the studies of USA Today and the National Academy of Sciences that try to determine what the direct effects of CAFE have been, and those effects are quite clear. The conclusion is the direct consequence of CAFE standards has been an increase in fatalities since 1975 of an estimated 46,000 people who lost their lives as a consequence of CAFE standards because of the lighter vehicles and the less safe vehicles that CAFE has fostered.”