MADD Wants to Eliminate Drunk Driving
Using technology that keeps drunk drivers from operating their vehicles and other measures, Mothers Against Drunk Driving has launched a new campaign aimed at completely eliminating drunken driving in the United States.The MADD effort is joined by the Department of Transportation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the Governors Highway Safety Association, the Century Council, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
"If we can't stop drunks from driving, we'll stop vehicles from driving drunks," said Glynn Birch, president of MADD, at a news conference announcing the new campaign, the latest of many MADD campaigns that have affected changes in laws and traffic fatality statistics since the organization began in 1980.
"The real possibility of eliminating drunk driving in this country is a powerful, even audacious, idea. Yet the tools are now at hand. Using technology, tougher enforcement, stronger laws and grassroots mobilization, the goal of eliminating a primary public health threat that has plagued the United States is within our reach," said Birch, whose 21-month-old son was killed by a drunk driver in 1988.
Ignition Interlock Technology
At the core of MADD's campaign is the use of ignition interlock technology that blocks drivers who are drinking from starting their vehicles. MADD wants to make the use of the technology mandatory in all states for convicted drunk drivers. Currently 45 states require it for repeat offenders. None require it for first-time offenders.
MADD also wants to see the eventual implementation of new technology that would be installed in all vehicles that would stop anyone who has been drinking from operating the car.
The "Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving" includes a four-point plan:
- Intensive high-visibility law enforcement.
- Full implementation of current alcohol ignition interlock technologies.
- Exploration of advanced vehicle technologies through the establishment of a Blue Ribbon panel of international safety experts to assess the feasibility of a range of technologies that would prevent drunk driving.
- Mobilization of grassroots support.
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Comments
MADD has destroyed families, torn mothers from their children. Alcohol is legal and they are slammed with time. The addict gets 3 times you out, and the judge has some choices. I am sorry you are so hurt that you hurt others, especially the children. I did not hurt anyone and I always worked. After 3 years in prison, I am unable to function in society. I am 49 and my life is over, for I am not even able to rent a safe place, because I am a convicted felon. I just got caught. Let us save the children that are alive and can change our world. Pam
To add to what just sent. Do you realize ones who sexually abuse children spend less time in prison, than a DUI, this is a DUI, no accident, no one in the car with them? Show me the justice in this?
i think they made a big mistake when they sent the smokers out of the bars in ohio. i fear now they will use thaere cars as bars so look out on the road
MADD and there wennies are just looking for an easy buck. Druck driving is thier exuce. They all need to be in prison for mass murder just like the Natis SS
MADD is doing a good thing by trying to make laws stronger. Sorry Pam, but if you make the choice to drink and drive you’ll have to pay the consequences of your choice whether you’re a mother or not. The law doesn’t change for mothers. As far as I’m concerned, your choice is what destroys your family, not the sentence you’re given. I’m seventeen and a car I was riding in was hit by a drunk driver. I broke several vertebrates and had a long stay in the hospital. I was severely hurt and my life is very different because of it. It was that drivers second offense. If the law had been stronger, he would have had to blow to start his car and I’d never have gotten hurt. So I completely agree with what MADD is trying to do. And D: If you’re going to be that ignorant and try to make insults that don’t make sense, you should at least try to spell them correctly.