Jeff Bingaman: “the problem of drunk driving has been discussed here for a day or two now. It is clear to all of us that this problem is…”

“the problem of drunk driving has been discussed here for a day or two now. It is clear to all of us that this problem is one that wreaks a terrible toll on our communities, a terrible toll on the young people of this country. One statistic that I cited yesterday, and that I think should be of concern to all of us, is that the single largest cause, the greatest cause of death among our young people between the ages of 15 and 20 is driving-related accidents. That is something we need to all be concerned about. Most of those accidents--so-called accidents--relate to alcohol. A significant contributor to the problem, I believe, is the sale of liquor through drive-up or drive-through windows. We all hear speeches and give speeches about how we do not believe we should combine drinking and driving. That is sort of a common refrain throughout our country and has been for many years. But if you want to know the time and the place and the circumstance where that mixing most obviously occurs, it is when a person drives a car up to a liquor store that has a drive-up window and that person sitting in the car as the driver of that car buys liquor or alcoholic beverages. Allowing the sales through these drive-up windows has the practical effect of preventing effective enforcement of many of our other laws. It also sends completely the wrong message to the driver and the public about refraining from drinking and driving.”