SINCE the automobile was invented, 1 1/2 million Americans have died in traffic accidents.
Fifty thousand Americans will die this year alone--hundreds on our crowded
highways this holiday weekend. This slaughter must stop.
The Congress has moved to stop it by passing the historic traffic safety act of 1966. For the first time now, we can mount a massive and truly national traffic safety program. For the first time, we can expect to replace suicide with sanity on the roads of this country.
But legislation can only guard your life--it cannot save it. Government programs can only protect you--they cannot do the driving for you.
So I ask every American to drive responsibly on this holiday. Let us all join this Labor Day weekend to help launch a new and a safer day in the history of American driving.
Note: The President read the statement at 11:55 a.m. in the Theater at the White House.
The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 was approved by the President on September 9, 1966 (see Item 449).
Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President on Highway Safety During the Labor Day Weekend. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238871