Lincoln Chafee: “like the Senator from New Mexico, I am disturbed by the incidents of alcohol-related injuries and fatalities on our…”

“like the Senator from New Mexico, I am disturbed by the incidents of alcohol-related injuries and fatalities on our highways, as we all are. I believe the Federal Government should support strong national safety standards for our roads and, indeed, I was a sponsor of the Lautenberg amendment. In our bill, we have provisions dealing with the so-called repeat offender. I am not sure the Senator's amendment is an appropriate solution to the problem of drunk driving. We cannot expect it to do everything, obviously. I have concerns about how much it will accomplish. It does place, as originally offered--there was a short time period. That has now been extended. Less than 22 of the States have such a law in effect. It will require them to pass this legislation by--the latest figure now is 2001. I am not sure whether such a sales ban would have an impact on alcohol-related deaths. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has no statistical information on the effectiveness of such a sales ban. Indeed, we have not considered this measure at all in our committee. It is a steep sanction, the 5 and the 10 percent. I think it is one we ought to approach with great caution. I must say, I am a little reluctant to have this bill too filled with sanctions.”