To Combat Drunk Driving And Underage Drinking, Leahy Helps Secure $300,000 Grant For New Roving

July 23, 1999

(Breath Alcohol Testing vehicles)

WASHINGTON (July 23) -- With the help of the Sen. Patrick Leahy, Vermont has garnered a $300,000 federal grant to purchase four new roving BATmobiles (Breath Alcohol Testing mobiles) to crack down on drunk driving and underage drinking throughout the state.

Responding to growing concern about alcohol-related car crashes and underage alcohol-related deaths in Vermont, state law enforcement officials sought these federal funds to purchase new so-called BATmobiles: roving vans outfitted with state-of-the-art alcohol testing and processing equipment. Vermont officials expect the four BATmobiles to include new equipment to measure a person's blood alcohol level, video cameras, sobriety check-point safety equipment and signs, car-stopping devices and alcohol sensors. Each vehicle will be responsible for patrolling a quadrant of the state.

"Like the other Batmobile in my favorite movies, these new vehicles will be a force for good. They will be packed with modern tools to both discourage and crack down on drunk driving and underage drinking," said Leahy, who strongly supported the grant request and fought off initial attempts by the Department of Justice to pare Vermont's funding request. "Vermont can now deploy a rapid response unit to get drunk drivers off the road and cut off underage drinking parties."

Leahy is the Democratic leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Department of Justice.

Alarming statistics and grim accidents in recent years have drawn attention to the problem of underage drinking and drunk driving in Vermont. The organization Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) reports that Vermont is the number one state in the country for per capita, teen alcohol-related highway deaths. Approximately 35 - 40 people die each year in alcohol- related crashes in Vermont, a per capita rate far above other New England states.

[A letter from Leahy to the Department of Justice in support of Vermont's grant request, and a letter from Vermont Department of Public Safety Commissioner A. James Walton to Leahy, outlining the need for the federal funds, are available upon request.]

LOCAL CONTACT: Jeanne Johnson, Coordinator, Governor's Highway Safety Program -- 244-1317