State Representative Gene Caldwell Briefs the RID Board

by Kathy Miller

Newly re-elected State Rep. Caldwell was the guest speaker at the November 2000 RID Board of Directors meeting, and board members and guests in attendance either re-heard an age-old fact or were brought up to speed by his comments. He shared that, “Money is the best motivation when it comes to getting bills passed by the Tennessee Legislature.”

Using the “carrot and stick” approach, the federal government passed the Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century (TEA 21) which sets aside $219 million in grants for state highway construction for states which pass a minimum of five of seven requirements in the area of drunk driving legislation. These areas include an open container law, license revocation, program for minors involved in driving and alcohol, enforcement of drunk driving laws, a graduated license, a seat belt law, and automatic testing of drivers in accidents involving a fatality.

This grant money is the “carrot,” but there are also penalties imposed for states who do not respond with specific laws, thus the “stick.” For example, Tennessee forfeited $1.5 million in grant money because we do not have an open container law. Rep. Caldwell describes that as “an attention getter.” Although we have not even been able to get an open container law involving the driver passed in our state, he says it will be even more difficult to get the same law to apply to the passengers as well. He quoted a former state senator from Jackson who said, “It’s a God-given right to ride in a van to a U.T. game and drink beer!”

Another area that has given the legislature difficulty is passing a law which would allow administrative license revocation. The public is reluctant “to give a single police officer the power to take your license away from you,” Caldwell said.

However, there are several bright spots that Rep. Caldwell could point out proudly to the RID Board. He, himself, lobbied heavily to get the graduated driver’s license bill passed. He also noted that a primary seat belt law was passed. This law gives law enforcement officers the right to stop you, if they see you are not wearing your seat belt. Since this oversight can go hand-in-hand with an impaired or DUI driver, he sees this as a real breakthrough in catching drunk drivers.

The state legislature also passed a blood alcohol content (BAC) bill of “0.08 per se” as the legally intoxicated limit. They did, however, declare that the driver would be designated “impaired” rather the “DUI” if this arrest were the first offense. Already some judges seem to be stretching the use of this “lesser” offense to include drivers who have a BAC as high as 0.15!

At the close of his briefing, Rep. Caldwell spoke about what he considers the most important, yet most overlooked aspect of answering the drunken driving problem in society, and that is the “treatment of the alcoholic driver.” He decried the fact that there are essentially no treatment programs for repeat offenders and that even further cuts from mental health programs make treating drunk drivers more remote.

One reason the board extended the speaker’s invitation was to help us determine what legislative areas we should target our activities toward this year. We are extremely grateful to Rep. Caldwell for giving us a great deal to consider as we make these decisions. We also appreciate the faithful work he does in the legislature to further the goals of RID. Both the RID Board and the Tennessee legislature have our work cut out for us this year to make Tennessee highways safer for our families and friends.