MADD Launches Nationwide Campaign Taking Aim At Repeat Offenders
29 December 1999
MADD Launches Nationwide Campaign Taking Aim At Repeat Offenders and Super-Drunk Drivers MADD Issues New Year's 'Safe Party Guide' Tips
To Avoid Deadly Y2K Alcohol Crashes
WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 -- Marking theginning of its year-long
20th anniversary commemoration, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) today
launched a nationwide "Higher Risk Driver" campaign to crack down on repeat
offender drunk drivers, drivers with high blood-alcohol levels, and convicted
drunk drivers who drive with suspended licenses. The "Higher Risk Driver"
program is part of MADD's comprehensive attack on drunk driving, which also
includes lowering the illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) threshold to
0.08 percent in each state.
MADD also warned the nation's motorists that the Y2K crash most likely to
kill this New Year's Eve is one caused by a drunk driver. MADD issued a
"Safe Party Guide" providing safety tips for New Year's revelers on how to
avoid alcohol-related Y2K crashes. New Year's is often the single most deadly
holiday for drunk driving of the year. On the average day during the year,
38 percent of highway deaths are alcohol-related. However, over the past
two New Year's holidays, drunk driving accounted for 63 percent of traffic
fatalities in the United States.
MADD's "Higher Risk Driver" campaign seeks to create an integrated,
comprehensive system in each state where the courts, driver's licensing
agencies and treatment programs work together to control these most persistent
impaired drivers. MADD identified three types of offenders as
"higher risk drivers":
1. Someone convicted of a drunk driving offense within 5 years of a prior
drunk driving conviction,
2. Someone convicted of drunk driving who at the time of the offense had
a BAC of .16 or higher,
3. Someone convicted of driving with a suspended license where the
suspension was the result of a drunk driving arrest.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
65 percent of all alcohol-related highway deaths involve drivers with a BAC of
.15 or higher. A driver at .15 BAC is 385 times more likely to be involved in
a fatal alcohol-related crash than a non-drinking driver. Nearly one-third of
drivers arrested or convicted of drunk driving each year are repeat offenders,
and as many as 75 percent of those who lose their license for driving drunk
continue to drive on a suspended license.
"Since MADD's inception nearly 20 years ago, drunk driving deaths have
been cut by 40 percent, but we have made little progress in controlling this
higher risk group," said MADD National President Karolyn Nunnallee. "Whatever
the legal system did to them the first time they were arrested did not modify
their behavior."
MADD urged each state to enact specific proven-effective measures to
toughen driver restrictions, increase community and victim restitution, and
assure monitored substance abuse recovery programs for convicted offenders.
The penalties posed under MADD's Higher Risk Driver program are summed up as
follows:
* Repeat Offender -- a repeat offender would be subject to a one-year
driver's license suspension, vehicle impoundment,
installation of an ignition interlock, jail time,
fines, two years probation, one year in a monitored
alcohol treatment program, and attendance at a victim
impact panel. In addition, the repeat offender must
adhere to a legal blood alcohol limit of .05 percent
for five years.
* High BAC Offender -- a high BAC driver would be subject to a driver's
license suspension, installation of an ignition
interlock device, increased fines, 100 hours of
community service, one year's probation, 6 months
in a monitored alcohol treatment program, and
attendance at a victim impact panel. Where the
offender has been involved in a crash, the offender
will be required to provide financial restitution
for the victim.
* "Drive While Suspended" Offender -- For someone who drives with a
suspended license for a previous
drunk driving offense, there is a
30-day vehicle impoundment of the
offender's car for a first time
offense, and vehicle forfeiture for
repeatedly driving with a suspended
license.
Finally, those who seek to bypass the law by refusing to submit to a
blood-alcohol breath test would face a driver's license suspension
for two years.
The "Higher Risk Driver Program" is available at MADD's web site:
http://www.madd.org .
Under the federal Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21),
states are required to enact laws to crack down on repeat offender drunk
drivers by October 1, 2000, or face an annual transfer of millions of federal
funds out of their highway construction and repair budget.
In developing the "Higher Risk Driver" plan, MADD consulted with highway
safety experts and researchers, treatment professionals, public policy
advocates and others at the local, state and national levels. "Most of the
remedies recommended in this plan are not new," Nunnallee said. "But, in the
past they have been implemented on a piecemeal basis which has produced a
system full of loopholes and incomplete programs that failed to curb the
higher risk driver."
Drunk driving is the most frequently committed violent crime in the nation
with more than 1.4 million arrests annually. NHTSA estimates that only one of
every 1,000 drunk driving incidents results in an arrest. "You can imagine
the millions of times people drive drunk in our country without getting
caught," said Nunnallee.
In 1980, an estimated 28,000 people were killed in alcohol-related
crashes. In 1998, nearly 16,000 people were killed and 850,000 were injured.
"Every week, 308 people lose their lives in alcohol-related crashes,"
Nunnallee pointed out. "That's the equivalent of two jetliners crashing every
week. Yet, we rarely read about these tragedies except as a footnote in the
back page obituaries of our newspapers."
Nunnallee's daughter was one of 27 bus occupants killed in a crash caused
by a repeat offender, high BAC driver in Kentucky in 1988.
"As we prepare to usher in a new century, our nation is anxiously poised
for the possibility of a Y2K meltdown, Nunnallee said. "Billions of dollars
are being spent to protect us from Y2K crashes, but the Y2K crash most likely
to kill is one caused by a drunk driver."
NHTSA reports that one in 13 drivers has a BAC of .08 or higher on the
average weekday night, and that one of every seven are over the limit on a
typical weekend night.
In 1995, MADD and many other highway safety groups joined with the Clinton
Administration in setting a national goal to reduce alcohol-related traffic
deaths to no more than 11,000 by year 2005. "This is an ambitious but
realistic goal," said Rosalyn Millman, Acting Administrator of NHTSA. "With
the support of government at all levels, the 'Higher Risk Driver' program can
be giant step forward toward our year 2005 goal."
While "higher risk drivers" are over-represented in fatal alcohol-related
crashes, the majority of alcohol-related traffic deaths involve first time
offenders. "For this reason, we must continue pushing for a nationwide
.08 blood alcohol limit," Nunnallee said. "The sign of the times as we move
into the 21st Century should read: .08 BAC Limit."
MADD national board member Millie I. Webb, who becomes National President
on January 1, spoke of when she was seven-months pregnant and her family was
struck by a .08 BAC driver. The crash resulted in Webb suffering burns over
73 percent of her body, severe burns to her husband, the deaths of her
daughter and nephew, and a daughter born legally blind.
"The opponents of .08 laws camouflage their concern about profits by
arguing that we ought to be focusing all of our efforts on higher risk
drivers," Webb said. "This is not an 'either-or' proposition. We need to
combat drunk driving across the BAC spectrum starting at .08 BAC, whether you
are first-time or repeat offender."
Webb pointed out that historically drunk driving skyrockets during the New
Year's holiday. "Together we can make history by making this a drunk
driving-free New Year's."
Jacquelyn Buchelli of Pasadena, California, spoke about the death of her
husband Marcelo who was killed in a crash caused by a high BAC driver (.20) in
the early morning hours of New Year's Day 1999. "So many people have referred
to Marcelo's death as an accident. His death was no accident, it was a crime.
Marcelo was violently killed. He died because one man thoughtlessly and
irresponsibly chose to drink and to drive last New Year's. And it was all so
preventable," Buchelli said. "I ask everyone to please drive safe and sober
this New Year's holiday and every day. If you are drinking this New Year's,
designate a non-drinking driver. It's truly a matter of life or death."
MADD today issued a "Safe Party Guide" that provides alcohol-free drink
recipes, tips on hosting home and office parties, myths and facts about
drinking and driving, and information on how to spot and report a suspected
drunk driver. The guide is available at MADD's web site: http://www.madd.org .
MADD today launched its year-long observance of the 20th anniversary of
its founding in 1980. One focus of its "Making a Difference Daily"
anniversary commemoration in year 2000 will be the "Difference Maker" program
that will honor two people each day throughout the year for their commitment
to MADD's mission: to stop drunk driving, support the victims of this violent
crime, and prevent underage drinking.
In early September, MADD will hold a special event in Washington, D.C. to
formally mark its 20-year anniversary. In late September, MADD will sponsor a
national youth summit in the nation's capital where one teenager from each of
the 435 congressional districts will come together to address the problem of
underage drinking.
