{"id":323282,"date":"2026-06-05T00:17:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T00:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/323282\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T00:17:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T00:17:31","slug":"escobar-cites-el-pasos-high-drunk-driving-death-rate-in-push-for-more-safety-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/323282\/","title":{"rendered":"Escobar cites El Paso\u2019s high drunk driving death rate in push for more safety options"},"content":{"rendered":"

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM<\/a>) \u2013 U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, spoke out against an amendment she said could limit Congress\u2019 ability to explore technology aimed at preventing drunk driving.<\/p>\n

During a committee debate on Wednesday, June 3, Escobar opposed a Republican-backed amendment that would prohibit federal agencies from researching technologies aimed at preventing drunk driving. Escobar said lawmakers should keep all options on the table as they seek solutions to reduce impaired driving deaths. The amendment passed.<\/p>\n

27_thud_cloud_1_killing-switches-revised<\/a>Download<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cTexas is one of the worst states when it comes to drunk driving,\u201d Escobar said.<\/p>\n

The congresswoman pointed to statistics showing that five Texas cities rank among those with the highest rates of drunk driving fatalities in the country. She pointed out that El Paso has the highest percentage of alcohol-related crash fatalities among them, with 61% of fatal crashes involving alcohol.<\/p>\n

El Paso City Council to look at ways to fight back vs. DWIs <\/a><\/p>\n

Escobar argued that Congress should keep all options on the table when considering ways to reduce impaired driving deaths.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should not be standing in the way of options provided to Congress,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She agreed that impaired driving extends beyond alcohol and also includes distracted driving, texting behind the wheel and drug impairment.<\/p>\n

According to Escobar, studies show that a person drives under the influence an average of 80 times before being caught.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my community, my constituents think Congress isn\u2019t doing enough to stop drunk driving,\u201d Escobar said. \u201cVehicles are weapons when an impaired or drunk driver is behind the wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n

She then shed light on an organization made up of families who have lost loved ones in crashes involving impaired drivers called Sober Streets El Paso<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are a club no one wants to be a part of,\u201d Escobar said. \u201cThey have lost children, spouses, loved ones, to someone who didn\u2019t bother to order an Uber, a Lyft or get a ride home.\u201d<\/p>\n

El Paso advocacy group calls for stricter DUI laws <\/a><\/p>\n

Escobar said lawmakers should continue looking into potential technologies and policy solutions that could reduce impaired driving deaths rather than limiting research efforts before Congress has an opportunity to evaluate them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of work we have to do as members to create safer communities, and I want to look at the menu of options,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019d like for us to do more, not less.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) \u2013 U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, spoke out against an amendment she said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[2671,94636,21515,138,140,139,115619,27484,2569],"class_list":["post-323282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-congress","tag-distracted-driving","tag-drunk-driving","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-options","tag-texas-cities","tag-veronica-escobar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}