Therefore, anyone can participate and help prevent drunk driving. For instance, you can get involved by fundraising, volunteering, and staying informed. Anyone can volunteer and help MADD fight against drunk drivers and help make a change for good. “The gift of your time makes a lifesaving difference.” You can fundraise to make an effort in trying to stop the issue. By staying informed you are being
Advertisements posted on the website facesofdrunkdriving.com share multiple stories of people who were unexpectedly struck by drunk drivers. There was one story in particular that stood out to me more than the others and that was Jacqueline Saburido’s. This advertisement makes a powerful statement about how drunk driving can not only kill someone, but can also scar someone for life. The goal of the organization that posted this advertisement is to never drink and drive. It is not worth risking your life, someone else’s life, or putting anyone at risk of lifelong hardships and injuries. They present
Approximately one million people are injured in alcohol-related traffic crashes every year and young people, ages 16 to 24 are involved in 28% of those alcohol-related driving accidents, although they make up only 14% of the U.S. population. On any given weekend evening, one in 10 drivers on America's roads has been drinking and according to the latest statistics, in a family of five the prospect of you or someone in your family being involved in an alcohol-related motor vehicle accident in their lifetime, is an astounding 200 percent. That's a lot of tragic, meaningless deaths that could actually have been avoided.
It is 2:20 in the morning when the phone rings. You are automatically startled and jump to pick it up after the second ring. That feeling in your stomach tells you that something is terribly wrong. It is the police on the other end of the line telling you that your daughter has been in a fatal accident. As the officer is talking, you seem to freeze and zone out. Your spouse is up now and takes the phone and talks to the officer to find out what is going on. You are in a state of shock as you both drive to the hospital so that you all can identify your daughter. When you become more coherent, you learn that a senseless fool who was drunk took your precious baby away from you. This is one phone call
On February 3, 2017, Tim Piazza, a sophomore here at Penn State, tragically lost his life at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house. This horrific event was a result of irresponsible consumption of alcohol and binge drinking. Sadly, this is not an isolated incident. Around the nation, countless young adults have lost their life due to the thoughtless consumption of alcohol. Unfortunately, the common census between the majority of the average day Americans is that the most effective way to make drinking safer for young adults is enforcing a minimum drinking age of twenty one. This law, as well as the common census, are a direct result from the efforts of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) more than thirty years ago (“Drinking Culture”). MADD’s objective and goal is quite understandable; they want the young adults of today’s world to be safe and not put themselves into dangerous situations with alcohol, but they doing more harm than good. (“The Problem”). Safety is the single objective from each side in this argument, but MADD’s flawed logic and ignorance to reality has formed a belief that results in an unsafe drinking culture, resulting in more deaths, such as the tragic passing of Tim Piazza, unless the drinking age is lowered to eighteen, as well as establishing an open dialogue about drinking itself.
M.A.D.D. is a political interest group for all mothers against drunk driving. It was specifically created for mothers of kids who have fallen victim to drunk drivers, whether it be in injury or in death. Founded on September 5th 1980, M.A.D.D. has made a huge impact on the government today and an even bigger impact on society. The idea of M.A.D.D. was first introduced by a mother, Candice Lightner, who lost her thirteen year old daughter in a car accident killed by an intoxicated driver. She took action and initiative after the loss of her daughter to help prevent drunk driving accidents so other parents wouldn’t have to go through the grief of the loss of a loved one, especially their son or daughter. Whether it be spreading awareness,
Carime Ann Lightner was a 13 year old girl who lost her life on May 3rd, 1980, after a hit and run by Clarence Busch, who was repeatedly jailed for drunk driving. He was out on bail when he hit Cari, throwing her 125 feet. Her injuries were so severe that her organs weren’t viable to donate. Her mother, Candace Lightner, fought hard for justice, not only for her child, but for the people who were greatly impacted from drunk driving crashes. On September 5, 1980, she decided to take action for her daughter and several other victims of drunk driving and founded one of the most influential, non-profit organizations in the country: Mother’s Against Drunk Driving. Through MADD, Candy Lightner, helped prevent underage drinking, has brought the number of drunk driving crashes down significantly, and helped families
The United States has the world’s highest MLDA, and many citizens are content to keep it that way. Political interest groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), who had a hand in changing the law, insist that a higher drinking age protects communities. They focus on the decline in drunk driving accidents and deaths— something they attribute to a lack of intoxicated under-21s on the road. Recently, MADD has been criticized for stepping away from it’s original purpose and turning toward a “neo-prohibitionist” outlook that demonizes alcohol, rather than drunk driving. Still, MADD members and other advocates of a 21 year MLDA often point out that death rates due to car accidents for 18 to 20 year olds have decreased since the MLDA act was passed, but this can be countered with the observation that this loss of lives has just been delayed a few years, now showing up in the 21 to 24 age bracket. It would seem that newly-legal drinkers are the ones causing accidents, no matter the age.
I remember being eight years old and looking out the window; my heart was heavy as I examined the giant crushed piece of metal sitting in my driveway. It looked as if a herd of thousand horses trampled viciously on top of my mom’s maroon colored Jeep Cherokee. It was clear to see my dad was drinking and driving again. All too often drivers decide to put their keys in the ignition, start the car, and head off onto public roads, despite the fact that their motor abilities and mental judgement has been impaired from drinking alcohol. Drinking and driving is a devastating crime that affects the lives of many. When people decide to drink and drive, they are at risk of getting their license suspended, getting
In 2013, 10,076 people were killed in drunk driving incidents. Out of those people, 65% (6,515) were drivers, 27% (2,724) were passengers, and 8% (837) were non-passengers (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). Over half of those fatalities (67.1%) involved blood alcohol levels over .15% (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). The legal blood-alcohol content is .08%. Drunk driving caused 31% of deaths in car crashes in 2013 (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). In 2012, 402 people were killed by alcohol impairment in North Carolina (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). These numbers, though they seem astonishing, have been cut in half since 1991 (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). Even though the number of fatalities has been lowered, that number is not low enough. Most drunk drivers are repeat offenders. Lives are being taken because of the careless attitude of the drunk drivers. Drunk driving is selfish; those who commit this crime do not think about the extreme consequences of their actions. In North America it is estimated that 1-5 drivers has been drinking and 1 in 10 is legally impaired on any Friday or Saturday night (Root). Many groups, including MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), are fighting to stop drunk driving. Unfortunately, drunk driving cannot be stopped. People will always commit this heinous crime. The numbers may go down, but unfortunately there will always be a number. The only way to continually decrease the amount of lives lost is to increase punishments for drunk driving.
A lobby that speaks out against teen driving is Mothers against driving, who say that drinking and driving is the easiest ways that teenage driving accidents can occur. “Given the incidence of auto-accident deaths among teenagers, despite the higher drinking age, you have to ask whether the powerful lobby Mothers Against Drunk Driving simply targeted the wrong D.” This quote demonstrates an ethos because it is given from an incredibly large and reliable count, a lobby group opposing drinking and driving underage. Their reliability makes us comfortable believing the information and its accountability. Anna Quindlen can also be believed to be a reliable source. “The national highway traffic safety administration has found that neophyte drivers of 17 have about a third as many accidents as their counterparts only a year younger.” Quindlen collects facts from people who have studied this subject to reinforce her beliefs on changing the driving age. He retrieves factual information on the subject from people who have researched it. This gives us a credible first hand facts so we can get in depth and accurate information on the
For the people who don’t know who MADD is and what they stand for, they were started by a group of mothers who lost a child or children in a drunk driving incident and decided to collaborate to create the “Interest Group”. As soon as the article starts, the author starts to throw out statistics about the drinking age, as the author states, “More than 25,000 lives have been saved in
Mothers against drunk driving also known as MADD is an organization that was founded on September 5th 1980. This lobbying group was founded by a mother whose daughter was killed in an accident caused by a drunk driver. Its original mission or purposes as declared in its incorporation article were to assist the victims of crimes performed by individuals driving under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, and the families of the victims, and also to increase people's awareness towards the problem caused by driving under the influence. Today, the mission of this organization is "The mission of Mothers Against Drunk Driving is to stop drunk driving, support the victims of this violent crime and prevent underage drinking." MADD's work has saved nearly 300,000 lives to date ADDIN EN.CITE Fell J.C.19959(Fell J.C. & data, 1995)9910Fell J.C., NHTSA FARS dataC.N. Kloeden,A. J. McLean "What's New in Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety in the U.S.?" National Highway Traffic Safety Administration13th Conference, International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety, ICADTS, NHMRC Road Accident Research Unit329-335 T95,1995University of Adelaide, Australia( HYPERLINK l "_ENREF_2" o "Fell J.C., 1995 #9" Fell J.C. & data, 1995)
As we all know that there are many people dying or getting severely injured every day because either they are driving under the influence (DUI) or they are victims of those people who drink and drive. The United States is the country which has the most accidents caused by DUI. According to the article “Alcohol Involvement in Fatal Crashes”, the U.S has the most impaired driving accidents. Statistics in the article “Impaired Driving” show that around 10,076 people were killed in ‘alcohol – impaired’ driving in 2013 in the United States. Research shows that people aged 16 to 49 are the ones who are most likely break the laws of DUI, and teenagers are more likely to get into fatal accidents. Therefore, the government, and other organizations have invented programs to help these people and reduce rates of drinking and driving in the United States. For example, Reinforcing Alcohol Prevention (RAP), Criminal Justice Policies, Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) etc. However, not all programs work the same way for everyone. To find out how to reduce drinking and driving rates in the United States using programs, we have to look at what kind of people are breaking DUI laws, what are the causes, and then we can find out which program will work better for a specific group.
Someone in America dies every twenty-two minutes, because of an alcohol related accident. Most people feel that they will never be part of this statistic, but experts on this subject say that everyone has a forty percent chance of being in an accident with a drunk driver. Drunk driving is a serious problem that the United States, as well as the world, is trying to deal with, because it does not only effect a select few, it effects everyone. Drunk driving amongst high school students is an enormous problem that the United States is trying to cope with. Many programs have come to surface over the past few years, that educate students on this situation. MADD, mothers against drunk driving, is a non profit