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1Wt8 $4LSIEIscEf<br />
who sen'es EE the rank-<br />
lng mamb+t on the Itrterstate flnd Forelgn<br />
Comerce Coftmltt€e reportlng out<br />
thls leclsletion. As a very eminent lawyer<br />
ffid onetime judge. he ls Bbly quellfled<br />
to sulde the destinies of this vera lrnportant<br />
comtnlftee of the House. He is<br />
very thorough Rnd meticulous in his<br />
work, h<strong>and</strong>li:ig soine of the most sensitlvc<br />
lesislallott in the congress hnving<br />
to do with irlterstat€ commcrce. Mcmbrrs<br />
of thls Houc hBve the utmost confldence<br />
in his carefid welghlng of 8ll the<br />
Bfgulnents <strong>and</strong> in his ultimate decisions.<br />
f $urely intend to suptsrt his arnendment<br />
to thls blll tr$ R ntre.ssaty improvetnent<br />
Rnd I do lntend to suppott the biu<br />
on linal passage,<br />
I musi join with those, Mr. chRirm8n'<br />
who heretnfore thi.c aftemoof, lrave made<br />
the Lloint thRt mere passaee of this legislation<br />
will rnakc no deci(tFd dent in lhe<br />
tramc fai:aliLy rat€. As the genlleman<br />
from cali.iorniii IMr. YotrNcER] pointed<br />
out ln his esrlier remark$, we cad force<br />
the aut[moblle manuJacturers to illstsll<br />
seat belts, but we caflnot force the driver<br />
of passenger to buckle the seet b€1L5, <strong>and</strong><br />
the statlstlcs cited bv the Eentleman<br />
Irom Californlb IMr. YoUNGER] are<br />
ample evidence of thls.<br />
The Accident Prevention Divlslon oi<br />
the U.S. Prrbilc Health Servlce has<br />
fl.nrinced the fllmlns of ddver behavlor<br />
for over 300 drivers ln Wa$hington' D.C'<br />
Thes drivers. selected Bt r<strong>and</strong>om. were<br />
fllmed f or 5 minutes of continuous<br />
drivitrB without thetr knowledge, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
fllms show thet 9? percent of the drivers<br />
conr.rnltted at lest one error during thls<br />
ttme <strong>and</strong> 38 percelrt were guilty of at<br />
leEst ond vlclatlon.<br />
The average number of error-$ sEs<br />
9.18. As expected, slleedlng was the most<br />
frequent error, noted ln 87 percent of<br />
the cases. Failure to $tey ln one's own<br />
lane wBS noted in 63 Percent of the<br />
cBses.<br />
These tests simFly reemptHslze "vhat<br />
we elready know. The key tu lnost trsffic<br />
safety i6 the drlver himself irnd I think<br />
It would be treglc lf t.llis leglslBtiorr u'ere<br />
to take the spotllght from the role of the<br />
driver <strong>and</strong> place it solely on the road und<br />
the vehlcle.<br />
I camot refraln lrom makinE fientlon,<br />
tm, Mr. chalrfilsn, of the frishtenlng<br />
rate of accidents directly attributable to<br />
drunken drivers or those comumirlg<br />
varylng degrees of alcohollc beverBges'<br />
I've been trying for $everal Inontls to<br />
draft a piece of legislf,tion thst would<br />
get st this p&rticulat problem <strong>and</strong> have<br />
run into all kirds of problems. W:hen I<br />
was over in Sweden thls sprlng' I learned<br />
that atryone picked up for dmiken drivlng<br />
ls automatically lhrown in jail for a<br />
30-day sttnt <strong>and</strong> therc 8re no exceptions<br />
to the rule. I! was itrterestlng to note<br />
whlle altending several soclal functlonE<br />
where al\rotrol wss ctnsumed that at least<br />
one drlver of each automoblle at ihe affatr<br />
totelly Bbstalnecl for that evenlng.<br />
The law ts $trlctly enforced <strong>and</strong> lt ls<br />
psylng cllvidends.<br />
Ou problem stems from the fact tb,et<br />
we have a considerably difierent Constitutton<br />
End to dfsft f, blll th4t does not<br />
treBd upon sn lndlvldual's constltutloml<br />
rlghts to do celtaln things is extremely<br />
difficult, but we hope to come up with t<br />
sterter lrl the near future.<br />
rn concluslon, Mr. Chalrman, the per8ntount<br />
consideration <strong>and</strong> clntrollltrg<br />
fsctrr in autonrot)ile safety i6 the driver,<br />
s,nd it is indeed dimcult to control him<br />
by Federal edict.<br />
TIr. STAGGERS. Mr. ChBITrnEN, I<br />
yield such ti-rne BS he may require to the<br />
gentleman from Mlchlgen [Mr,<br />
DTNoELLI.<br />
Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chah'man. I want<br />
to thank my chairmen for his kindness<br />
in yielding to rne. Thele sre s nmber<br />
of points I rvdnt til raise with respect to<br />
the corttents of thls legislstion, parucularly,<br />
I hope, dealins wlth questions of<br />
lcad time Nhich is une of vital import$ce<br />
to the industry which is one oI<br />
the princirriil ernployer$ in the dl$trict<br />
that I hilve the honor to represent ln<br />
Congress.<br />
As the rnembership of the coftmittee,<br />
<strong>and</strong> anyone else familiar with the industry<br />
knows, lead ttfle is a lno$t important<br />
lnatter. Modern cBrs are complefi<br />
mechanisms, mede up oI over 14,000 lnt€rrelated<br />
pf,rtE. This complexlty <strong>and</strong><br />
the looling <strong>and</strong> other tequilements for<br />
hlgh volme rnass production ntre$$itate<br />
B substsntial perlod between m initiel<br />
design concept md productlon. Currently<br />
lt takes a, period of 2 yeErs or 60<br />
in the indutry to accompllsh the neces-<br />
$ary de$i8xr, engineerlntr End testttg work<br />
to procure the materials <strong>and</strong> toollng <strong>and</strong><br />
to lsy out the production Une. It al8o<br />
tehes time to Erake chmecs. WhEt<br />
seemg to be a simple ch8nFe to &ccompllsh<br />
ln one part of $tructue may neceBsltstd<br />
B serles of difficult change$ or adjutmentE<br />
in other3, &nd considerable<br />
time can be requlred for that, ranElna<br />
from e few monthJ to rs much Bs 2 YeatE<br />
or ffiore. Because leed tlme ls so tnportant,<br />
lt B one of the factors thEt thc<br />
blll empowers <strong>and</strong> requlres the <strong>Sec</strong>retst'y<br />
to take into accomt ln estdbllsltlng<br />
st<strong>and</strong>hrds. end the S€ctetary has stEted<br />
that he will do so.<br />
Thus the bill in section 103 requlre8<br />
that staJrdards must be practicable antl<br />
thet the <strong>Sec</strong>retary must consider whether<br />
they are reason8ble, practlcable. <strong>and</strong><br />
sppropriate for the partlculaf type ol<br />
vehlcle or eouipment for whlch they Brd<br />
prescribed. Obvlously, & stEndard ls not<br />
practicable or reasonable if lt calxrot<br />
be met by the best efforts of manufactuers<br />
within the constralnts of tlme <strong>and</strong><br />
technolo8y. As the commlttee's repolt<br />
states, "StBhderds, of course, dannot be<br />
*t in B vtruum," <strong>and</strong> the <strong>Sec</strong>retary, in<br />
seiiirl8: studards, ls requircd to glve<br />
con$ideratlon to "aU relevsnt fbctors, lncludlng<br />
technologlcal Ebllity to achlevg<br />
the goAl of a partlcular stanilerd es well<br />
&s consideratiorr of economic fectots."<br />
ArnonB those economlc fectors whlch the<br />
<strong>Sec</strong>retary wiU have to conslder ls the<br />
mBtter of adequatd le&d tlme. As thB<br />
Depattment of commerce advlsed ln a<br />
letter dated Jue 3, 1s66, to the chalrulan:<br />
Tb6 tests of rtuoqablGnega ot cost. fesl.<br />
btuty sEd adequata lcsd tiEe thoutd bO<br />
lncludrd amon8 those lactoB whlch the Sd'<br />
retsy could coDalder h hahlng htt tot8l<br />
ludBmeat.<br />
VoI.I