Brown backs anti-drunk driving bill
The Columbus Dispatch – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown will co-sponsor a bill that would authorize the federal government to spend $60 million during the next five years to develop new technologies to keep people who have been drinking heavily from starting their cars.
The bill, introduced last year by Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Democratic Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, is aimed at dramatically reducing the number of Americans killed every year in drunken-driving crashes. In 2009, about 324 people in Ohio died in alcohol-related crashes; 19,000 more were arrested for DUI.
“We know drunken driving and its impact cuts across communities,’’ Brown said in a conference call today with Ohio reporters. “More than one-third of all traffic fatalities are caused by drunken driving.’’
