Statement by the President in Response to Report of the Committee on Traffic Safety.

MY EARNEST HOPE is that the President's Committee for Traffic Safety may take the lead in bringing about broader and more intensive traffic safety activity during 1962.

We must exert every effort to improve traffic conditions which today are resulting every year in some 38,000 deaths, 1 1/2 million serious injuries and billions of dollars of property loss.

I am heartened to learn that the states are moving ahead to utilize Public Law 85684--the Beamer Resolution--which grants congressional consent in advance to interstate compacts whose purpose is to promote safety on the highways. In adopting this law, the Congress, in effect, reaffirmed the principle that primary responsibility for traffic safety meets with the state.

I believe strongly in keeping responsibility for traffic safety with state and local officials. But, only by interstate cooperation can we deal effectively with motor vehicle travel that becomes increasingly interstate in nature. So I hope that the states will take full advantage of compact agreements to move forward in the interests of uniformity and safety.

I have also been glad to note the increasing participation by the states in the Federal Driver License Register, which serves as a clearing house for identifying drivers whose licenses have been revoked or suspended for certain serious traffic offenses.

And, I am encouraged by the increasing safety research activities of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and by the creation of the Office of Highway Safety in the Bureau of Public Roads. These developments indicate a growing awareness of how the Federal Government can help states and citizens do a better job in traffic accident prevention.