Department of Transportation DUI Fatality Data
Statement for Attribution to Laura Dean-Mooney, MADD National President
on Department of Transportation DUI Fatality Data
DALLAS (August 28, 2008) — MADD is pleased by the 3.7 percent decline in drunk driving fatalities from 13,491 in 2006 to 12,998 in 2007. We are especially pleased by the more than 15 percent decrease in fatal crashes involving underage drinking drivers – the best of any age group.
However, the best way for the country to expand and accelerate this progress is for all states to pass legislation requiring alcohol ignition interlocks be installed on the vehicles of all convicted drunk drivers.
MADD will continue its quest to eliminate drunk driving and asks state leaders to be vigilant in enacting and supporting strategies proven to reduce drunk driving. Unfortunately, many states have missed opportunities to lower drunk driving fatalities.
California which has 310,971 drivers on the road with three or more DUI convictions missed an opportunity to reduce drunk driving fatalities this year. Assembly Member Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) introduced a bill requiring ignition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers. Unfortunately, politics within the legislature prevailed and the bill did not pass. MADD and its supporters will be back again next year to push for this critical drunk driving legislation.
Texas kills more people in drunk driving crashes than any other state – despite having less than two-thirds the population of California, it still has more drunk driving fatalities. It is the worst major state in the country in percentage of fatalities involving a drunk driver. In 2007, Texas missed the opportunity to allow sobriety checkpoints and mandate ignition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers; it must do this to improve.
Wisconsin – the fourth worst state in the country for drunk driving – actually increased its drunk driving fatalities from last year, when it was worst in the country. Wisconsin is the only state in the country where first offense drunk driving is a civil infraction, not a crime, and its lack of seriousness on drunk driving, which also shows in its lack of sobriety checkpoints and effective interlock law, costs precious lives each year.
Despite modest progress last year, South Carolina – consistently one of the worst states in the nation for drunk driving – has had opportunities over the past three years to fix the loopholes in their drunk driving law, one of the least effective in the nation. However, each year defense attorneys in the South Carolina legislature effectively kill any meaningful reform of their drunk driving law; those obstructions have squandered the potential to save lives.
In November 2006, MADD launched its Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving which supports high visibility enforcement, mandatory ignition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers, and the exploration of advanced technologies that will one day make cars inoperable by drunks as well as efforts to gain public support for these initiatives.
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