A little bird told us last week that our U.S. senators, Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, announced the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $1.3 million in funding for drunken-driving prevention, motorcycle safety and public transportation earmarked for Maine.

Here's the breakdown:

* $1,059,561 to the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety (by way of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), to be used as part of the "Alcohol Traffic Safety and Drunk Driving Prevention Incentive Grant," which will develop programs to prevent drunken driving.

* $100,000 to the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety (again, by way of NHTSA), as an "Incentive Grant Program" to fund motorcyclist safety training and motorist awareness.

* $294,000 to the Maine Department of Transportation (by way of the Federal Transit Administration). Funding will be used to purchase a 35 foot replacement bus for the South Portland Bus Service.

We hate to say it, but it will be Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa season again before we know it (we saw a home improvement store with its Christmas supplies out already this week. Eke!). You folks know what this means: holiday parties, indulging in holiday spirits and the possibility of an increased number of drunken drivers on the road.

So the $1 million award going toward preventing Mainers from getting behind the wheel drunker than a skunk on New Year's Eve caught our immediate attention.

Through a megaphone (er, press secretary), Snowe praised the feds for releasing the funding.

"According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, about three out of every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash in their lifetimes," Snowe said. "Through this generous grant and its vital programs, the Department of Transportation identifies the crucial need to improve highway safety in Maine and save precious lives."

Collins said similar sentiments through her megaphone:

"The Department of Transportation has valuable programs to assist states in their efforts to help prevent drunk driving and save lives. These dollars will go a long way in helping to combat a serious problem in Maine and throughout the nation."

And that's when we scratched our heads. While we respectfully agree with the senators, we have to wonder: Are Mainers really seeing the results of all this spending on drunk driving prevention?

After all, 71 people in Maine died last year in alcohol-related crashes, nevermind how many people were involved in one but not killed, or the number of people picked up for drunken driving.

While the good news is the number of people who died across the country in drunken driving accidents has started to gradually fall, the really bad news is that is not the case in Maine.

You loyal readers no doubt recall when we started this discussion over a month ago with Lauren Stewart, director of Maine Bureau of Highway Safety. At the time, Stewart said the number of people killed over Labor Day because of drunken driving was going up "steadily despite all the OUI-enforcement activities we've put in place."

But what about non-holiday weekends?

Except for one period of decrease between 2004 and 2005, the number of people involved in drunken driving crashes and fatalities in Maine has gone up since 2000.

Stewart agreed the problem is one that needs to stay on notice, but added she was confident her department has done, and will continue to do, everything they can to prevent drunken driving.

"Maine's law enforcement does a great job for the most part getting drunks off the road," Stewart said.

When asked if the number of drunken driving arrests has increased because there are more drunks behind the wheel or because law enforcement is cracking down, Stewart said she did "not have the answer to that," but added the Bureau has "done a lot to make it easier for law enforcement to catch them."

The $1 million will go toward to law enforcement details (when cops stake out an area with the intent of looking for drunkies driving home from their Saturday night watering hole), public service announcements, and check points (which is like a detail, but there's slim chance of passing through undetected).

Still, Stewart will admit more work needs to be done across the country to fix this problem that kills over 17,000 people a year.

"If you think back a few years ago, there was a strong message from the federal government: "Friends don't let friends drive drunk," Stewart said. "That really spoke to people because they are inclined to take care of their friends." The federal government's current slogan is "Over the Limit. Under Arrest."

"To me, this new slogan implies that it's OK to drink and drive if you're under the legal limit," Stewart said. "It's something I would like to see changed."

Follow Meghan Malloy's commuter blog and track the cheapest gasoline prices in town daily at www.kjonline.com.