Checkpoint Blitz Launched To Curb DUI Over Dangerous Labor Day Weekend

        With Drunk Driving Deaths Rising, MADD Calls for Renewed Fight
                Against America's Most Frequent Violent Crime

  New Study Shows Frequent Checkpoints Effective in Preventing Drunk Driving

    COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 29 On the eve of the heavily-traveled
and high-risk driving Labor Day holiday weekend, Mothers Against Drunk Driving
(MADD), Nationwide Insurance and police chiefs today launched an anti-drunk
driving education and enforcement blitz featuring the widespread use of
sobriety checkpoints.

    With alcohol-related traffic deaths on the rise, MADD's National Sobriety
Checkpoint Week (August 29 - Sept. 4), sponsored by Nationwide, will encourage
safe and sober driving during the historically dangerous Labor Day weekend.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) today warned that law
enforcement nationwide will conduct sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols
and roving patrols this holiday weekend in a stepped-up attack against
America's most frequent violent crime -- drunk driving.

    The National Safety Council predicts that 474 people are likely to die on
the nation's highways over Labor Day weekend with 50 percent (237) of those
deaths expected to be alcohol-related.  "We do not have to accept these death
toll predictions as a matter of fact or fate, because there is something each
of us can do to keep our friends and family alive and safe from injuries,"
said MADD National President Millie I. Webb.

    Preliminary U.S. highway death statistics for 2000 show that alcohol-
related traffic deaths rose to 16,068 last year, slightly higher than in 1999
(15,786) and 1998 (16,020).  The National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) also reports that about 1.4 million drivers were
arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs in 1998 for
an average of one DUI arrest per 132 drivers.

    A new report by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)
concludes that sobriety checkpoints may be the most effective law enforcement
tool to combat drunk driving.  The study found, however, that few states
routinely conduct checkpoints.

    "When conducted frequently, highly publicized checkpoints can cut alcohol-
related fatal crashes by 20 percent," said Susan Ferguson, IIHS senior vice
president for research.  She added that only one-third of the 37 states that
can legally conduct checkpoints do so.  "Some police prefer to conduct regular
patrols rather than checkpoints because patrols may yield more arrests,"
Ferguson said.  "But what makes sobriety checkpoints so effective is that they
are more likely to prevent the offense in the first place, whether or not they
lead to many arrests."

    IIHS also found that the use of Passive Alcohol Sensors (PAS) helps
increase the efficiency of detecting alcohol-impaired drivers at sobriety
checkpoints.  Nationwide Insurance, NHTSA and MADD are donating state-of-the-
art Passive Alcohol Sensors this week to law enforcement agencies in Arizona,
Hawaii, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Nationwide Insurance
also is donating Alcosensor portable breath testing devices to North Carolina
law enforcement agencies.

    Galen Barnes, president of Nationwide Insurance, said, "preventing drunk
driving means preventing needless deaths and disabling injuries.  We are
donating high-tech alcohol sensors to give law enforcement the tools they need
to quickly detect and arrest impaired drivers."

    MADD and Nationwide Insurance issued a safety alert for Labor Day holiday
travelers, urging motorists to designate non-drinking drivers, buckle up, obey
posted speed limits, drive courteously, and rest before driving long distances
this weekend.  "If you choose to drink and drive this Labor Day weekend," said
MADD President Webb, "the chance of getting caught will be greater than ever."

    MADD and Nationwide have each created safe party guides to provide tips on
how to be a responsible holiday party host, such as offering non-alcoholic
drinks, serving plenty of food to absorb alcohol, providing low-salt and high-
protein foods, and cutting off alcoholic beverages a couple of hours before
the party's over.

    For information about the MADD Safe Party Guide, the Designate a Driver
program, and National Sobriety Checkpoint Week campaign, visit the MADD Web
site at http://www.madd.org .

    For information about the Nationwide Smart Party guide, visit
http://www.nationwide.com .

    Jan Blaser-Upchurch, MADD national vice president for victim issues, spoke
of her late husband, Arizona State Police Sgt. John Blaser, who was killed by
a drunk driver while on duty during the Labor Day weekend in 1990.  "Eleven
years ago my world fell apart, and seven years later to the day, the world
felt the devastating impact of drunk driving when Princess Diana was killed in
a crash heard around the globe," Blaser-Upchurch said. "Last year, the drunk
driving death toll was the same as it was in 1997 -- the year Princess Diana
was killed.  Since that time, 64,000 Americans have been killed and nearly
2,520,000 others injured in DUI crashes in our country."
 
    Law enforcement organizations, such as the International Association of
Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement
Executives (NOBLE), support the use of sobriety checkpoints to combat drunk
driving.  "Sobriety checkpoints are effective because they send a strong
signal to the community that impaired driving will not be tolerated," said
North Miami Beach Police Chief Bill Berger, who is IACP's first vice president
and in-coming president.  "Our goal is to keep impaired drivers off our roads
for the sake of the millions of motorists and families who will travel by car
this Labor Day holiday.  We want every one to arrive alive this weekend, and
to return to work and school come next Tuesday."

    The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of sobriety
checkpoints in 1990.  Currently, 37 states and the District of Columbia
conduct checkpoints.  Numerous opinion polls have consistently shown strong
public support for sobriety checkpoints.  The time it typically takes someone
to go through a checkpoint is about the same as a stop at a traffic light or
an airport security checkpoint.

    MADD is working with NOBLE to reach diverse communities with the sober
driving message.  "The fact is, drunk driving is a threat in rural, suburban
and urban communities.  Drunk drivers do not discriminate, and everyone is at
risk," said Ohio State Patrol Major James H. Walker, who is a member of
NOBLE's traffic safety committee.  NOBLE was founded 25 years ago in part to
address crime and violence in the African-American community.  "Let's face it,
impaired driving -- whether caused by alcohol or other drugs -- is a crime and
the outcome is all too often a violent one."

    MADD, NHTSA, the insurance and automotive industries, the law enforcement
community, and many health and safety groups have formed a "Partners in
Progress" coalition that has set a goal of reducing alcohol-related traffic
deaths to no more than 11,000 by the year 2005.

    The "Partners in Progress" coalition is advocating states to make sobriety
checkpoints an integral part of their enforcement program and to enact several
effective measures, including .08 BAC laws, enhanced penalties for repeat
offenders and high blood-alcohol offenders, stiffening the penalties for
refusing alcohol-breath tests, open container laws, administrative license
revocation, child endangerment laws, and felony drunk driving and vehicular
homicide laws.  Also, MADD is calling on each state to boost seat belt use by
enacting standard enforcement safety belt laws.

    Nationwide employee Melissa Beck spoke of her father, James Henthorne, who
was killed by a drunk driver while walking home just before Labor Day weekend
in 1994. "Once a victim has been placed in a wheelchair or a grave, it's too
late. 'I'm sorry' doesn't make it go away.  Don't learn the hard way that
drinking and driving kills.  If my words are not enough to convince you, then
consider the legal and financial consequences of ruining lives, losing your
license, and losing your freedom."

    Also participating in today's kick-off event were NHTSA Administrator
Jeffrey Runge, M.D., Ohio State Representative Rex Damschroder (R-89) who
chairs the Ohio House Committee on Transportation and Public Safety and
sponsors the .08 BAC drunk driving and standard enforcement safety belt bills,
and Bill Sandlin of Cincinnati whose brother, Bob Sandlin, and grandniece,
Missy Bowling, were killed by a repeat offender drunk driver during the 1999
Labor Day weekend.