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“THE DRIVER RECORD INFORMATION VERIFICATION SYSTEM ACT--THE DRIVERS ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E468-E469 on March 25, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE DRIVER RECORD INFORMATION VERIFICATION SYSTEM ACT--THE DRIVERS ACT
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HON. JAMES P. MORAN
of virginia
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, March 25, 1998
Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, this morning, with my colleagues Connie Morella, Zoe Lofgren, Henry Waxman, Nick Lampson, and Nita Lowey, we are introducing the Driver Record Information Verification System Act or DRIVERS Act for short.
This legislation is being introduced in response to the tragic and senseless death of a local and promising young student Benjamin Cooper. Last summer, a commercial truck driver with a lengthy record of driving violations, at least 22 in the past year and at least 31 over the past ten years, was permitted to get behind the wheel and continue to drive. On August 12th, the truck driver ran a red light, overturned and crashed into the car driven by Ben Cooper.
The Washington Post in a September 3rd editorial correctly asked,
``What Kept Him (this truck driver) on the Road?'' My own involvement on this issue began on August 25th, when I received a letter from one of Ben's classmates, Lester Feder who asked me to help develop a national database to ensure that drivers with a history of reckless behavior and numerous driving violations cannot obtain a new license. I very much appreciated Mr. Feder's letter and his efforts to add meaning to Ben Cooper's death by working to prevent a similar tragedy from ever occurring again.
As I looked into the tragic circumstances in more detail, I was shocked to learn how easily someone can exploit loopholes in the current driver registration system to obtain a new, clean license that can effectively wipe out any past driving violations. This appears to be what may have occurred with the driver of the truck who killed Ben Cooper. The most significant problem with the present system is that there are fifty different systems and databases for personal driver licenses, one for each state, and one incomplete national system for commercial driver licenses.
Unfortunately, these separate systems are often incompatible and cannot communicate with each other, requiring records to be updated manually. Moreover, not all states are doing a good job at coordinating and sharing information on bad drivers. Courts and law enforcement officers routinely lack information on a past driver's record prior to sentencing someone with a reckless or DWI (driving while intoxicated) charge. And, in turn, they lack a user-friendly system for transmitting their convictions to all fifty states.
Only five states operate a database that can be shared electronically with other states. Forty five states transmit update information to other states by paper. Needless to say coordination among the states on current driver record information is sporadic and inefficient Records are often incomplete and not updated on a timely basis.
Anyone motivated to hide their past record of violations can obtain a new license in a different state and obtain a clean driving record. To make matters worse, the commercial driver license information system, which was designed to establish a national database on commercial drivers only covers a small portion of the total driving population. Advancements in information management technologies, however, offers the promise of a simple easy to manage, real-time national database that can retrieve, update and manage a national database on the nation's 200 million licensed drivers.
Only with a national database that includes both personal and commercial driver license information can we effectively thwart those who seek to hide their past records. Permitting this new system to use social security numbers, something now permitted with the commercial drivers' license system, will also make it more difficult to alter one's name or identity. The ease and potential cost savings of a national system offers the promise that all states will seek voluntarily to join the national system.
Before we reach that stage, however, we must test its feasibility of the new system. The legislation we are introducing today, takes this first step by authorizing $5 million for the U.S. Department of Transportation to work with several states to develop this national database. Once the bugs in the new system are resolved, and I believe they can be, we can offer all states a new cost-efficient and comprehensive system they will all want to join.
The legislation we are introducing today is not a panacea. It is, however, a step in the right direction.
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