Lifesaving Law Championed by the Honorable Elizabeth Dole Recognized as the Model for Current Bipartisan Effort to End Drunk Driving
WASHINGTON, DC – Forty years ago on July 17, President Ronald Reagan signed the Minimum Legal Drinking Age-21 Law, alongside drunk driving victims and survivors from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), then-U.S. Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole, and Congressional sponsors. Over the last four decades, this landmark federal law has saved more than 30,000 lives and has served as a blueprint for MADD’s efforts to end impaired driving.
“The 21 legal drinking age is one of the most researched public health laws of our time, and its impact on reducing drunk driving deaths among young people is unparalleled,” said MADD CEO Stacey D. Stewart.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates approximately 800 to 900 lives are saved every year as a result of setting the minimum legal drinking age in the U.S. at 21.
“MADD will be forever grateful for the victims and survivors who fought so hard for this lifesaving law, and we will never forget the extraordinary leadership of then-U.S. Transportation Secretary Dole,” said Stewart, who will present Dole with a MADD Lifetime Achievement Award for the Minimum Legal Drinking Age-21 Law.
“Secretary Dole’s sustained safety leadership should inspire us all to commit to ending drunk driving,” added Stewart. “Today, we know that the key to solving this public health crisis is ensuring every new car is equipped with impaired driving prevention technology. We need the same kind of safety leadership today, in the spirit of that historic day in 1984.”
The 21-drinking-age law was signed within a week of Secretary Dole’s directive on seat belts and airbags. Her bold action resulted in the proliferation of vehicle airbags and a rise in seat belt use from 13% in 1984 to 92% today. According to USDOT data, these three lifesaving measures have saved more than 500,000 lives over the past 40 years.
Even with these extraordinary safety advances, drunk driving remains the leading cause of deaths on U.S. roads, killing more than 13,000 people in 2022. Alarmingly, drunk driving deaths have spiked 33% since 2019.
In November 2021, after years of advocacy by victims and survivors working with MADD, President Joe Biden signed bipartisan legislation – The HALT Drunk Driving Act – into law that will lead to anti-drunk driving technology being built into all new cars. The law directs the USDOT to establish a federal regulation for the technology by November 2024, then gives automakers two to three years to build the required technology into every car that rolls off their assembly line. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, when fully implemented, the technology will save 10,000 lives every year.
“I have worked hand in hand with MADD for more than forty years. As many know, I lost an uncle to a drunk driver, and the impact on my grandmother and mother was lifelong,” said Secretary Dole. “Advanced vehicle technologies now allow us to finish the job and eliminate drunk driving. These technologies must be phased in as soon as they become available.”
Earlier this year, the USDOT and NHTSA published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the technology and received thousands of responses from the auto industry, technology companies, advocates and the public. Those comments are under review. NHTSA’s next steps will be to publish the proposed regulation, collect more feedback during a 60-day public comment period, and then issue the final rule.
For more information on the law (known as the Honoring the Abbas Legacy to Terminate (HALT) Drunk Driving Act) and its requirements, visit madd.org/haltact.
About MADD
Mothers Against Drunk Driving® (MADD) is a national nonprofit leading the movement to end impaired driving for good. Since 1980, MADD has helped reduce drunk driving deaths in America by nearly 40%, saved more than 475,000 lives, and served more than one million victims and survivors. The organization is committed to leading prevention efforts with young adults, collaborating with law enforcement to keep our roads safe from impaired drivers, as well as advocating for stricter sentencing and stronger laws, including the HALT Act that mandates anti-drunk driving technology in every new car. MADD continues to provide support services to victims and survivors of impaired driving at no charge through victim advocates and the 24-Hour Victim Help Line 1-877-MADD-HELP. For more information or to donate, visit https://madd.org/ and follow MADD on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Media Contact
Katie Alvino, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), 877.275.6233, [email protected], https://madd.org.
