Proclamation 6011—National Drive For Life Weekend, 1989

Although the proportion of traffic deaths related to alcohol has declined during the past few years, alcohol-impaired driving remains our Nation's number one highway safety problem

Approximately one-half of all fatal motor vehicle crashes in the United States continue to be alcohol-related. Some 80 percent of these crashes involve a legally intoxicated driver or pedestrain. During 1988 alone, alcohol played a role in more than 23,000 traffic deaths. The personal losses and suffering of the thousands injured by drunk driving and of those whose loved ones are killed in alcohol-related crashes are inestimable.

Drugs other than alcohol also pose a significant threat to our highway safety. Studies show that certain drugs -- legal as well as illegal, and either alone or in combination with alcohol -- contribute to highway crashes. All of us should be aware of the safety risks of driving after taking prescribed medications or over-the-counter drugs -- especially those that have labels warning against operating a motor vehicle. We should also be mindful that combining drugs and alcohol increases those safety risks.

Two years ago, a coalition headed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving sponsored the first National Drive for Life Day and campaigned for all Americans to pledge not to drink and drive on that day. By pausing on National Drive for Life Day to demonstrate their commitment to the fight against drunk driving, Americans underscored the importance of keeping that pledge throughout the year. The successof that first day prompted calls for an expanded campaign, to which the Congress responded in 1988 by designating Labor Day weekend as National Drive for Life Weekend. By Senate Joint Resolution 127, the Congress has again called for a national campaign by designating the Labor Day weekend beginning September 2, 1989, as "National Drive for Life Weekend" and has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this weekend.

Now, Therefore, I, George Bush, President of the United States of American, do hereby proclaim the Labor Day weekend, September 2 through 4, 1989, as National Drive for Life Weekend. I ask all Americans to help improve the safety of our Nation's highways by pledging not to dring and drive that weekend. I also call upon the Governors of the States, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa, the Mayor of the District of Columbia, and the people of the United to observe that weekend with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fourteenth.

GEORGE BUSH