February 11, 2004

Honorable Senator John McCain, Chairman
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
508 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510-6125

Honorable Senator Ernest Hollings, Ranking Minority Member Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
508 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510-6125

Dear Chairman McCain and Senator Hollings:

The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) wishes to express its support for the revised version of S. 1978, the Surface Transportation Safety Act of 2003. GHSA is a non-profit association whose members are appointed by their Governors to administer federal highway safety behavioral grant funds. GHSA members will administer the highway safety grant programs authorized by S. 1978.

GHSA supports the bill for several reasons. For one, it consolidates eight separate incentive grant programs into three: an occupant protection incentive program, an impaired driving incentive grant program, and a booster seat incentive program. It creates a much-needed federal program to enhance and coordinate emergency medical services statewide. It provides support for national mobilizations to enforce state safety belt and impaired driving laws.

Secondly, the bill maintains the basic structure of the Section 410 impaired driving incentive grant program while updating and enhancing the eligibility criteria. The current Section 410 program has successfully provided funding to state for their impaired driving programs and, at the same time, encouraged states to strengthen and improve those programs. The Senate Commerce Committee bill continues this approach. The new Section 410 program also provides critical additional assistance to "high risk" states - states that are having difficulty reducing impaired driving

Thirdly, the bill revises the Section 405 incentive program to provide two types of assistance: 1) for states that enact primary safety belt laws or reach 90% safety belt use rate and, 2) for states that convert at least 10% of non-users to users. These incentives will encourage states to strengthen their safety belt laws and continue strong enforcement of those laws.

GHSA also supports the driver education initiative that Sen. DeWine has proposed and that has been incorporated into S. 1978. The initiative will place a focus on driver education that has been sadly missing for the last decade. It will provide funding for the development, deployment and evaluation of a model driver education curriculum and make certain that enhanced driver education is fully integrated with state graduated licensing programs.

Finally, GHSA wishes to thank you and your staffs for working closely with the Association and ensuring that the best possible legislation would be offered. We appreciate the willingness to address our concerns and to be fair and flexible in your approach. We look forward to working with you and your staffs as the bill proceeds through the legislative process.

Sincerely,

Kathryn J. R. Swanson
Director, Minnesota Office of Traffic Safety
Chair, Governors Highway Safety Association