The Awareness of Drunk Driving

Throughout the years, the world has become more aware of drunk driving and the causes of careless people’s decisions. Organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), and Doctors For Designated Drivers (DFDD) help spread the awareness. These organizations work hard to show people and tell why one should not make this selfless choice. There are sad but true statistics about driving under the influence. “Roughly 33% of Americans are involved in an alcohol-related crash at some point in their lives,” says the DUI Foundation. This statistic is so shocking because driving while intoxicated is something that can be easily prevented. The people who cause these accidents can choose not to drive, but instead, they decide to risk their life and the lives of others. With the organizations MADD, SADD, and DFDD, and their efforts to stop this nonsense, Americans can become more aware of what actually happens when someone decides to drive intoxicated.

Cars have always helped out people when it comes to getting somewhere. While helping people out, cars have also been the cause for many deaths. But it is not the car’s fault; instead, it is the driver’s. Many people make the careless decision to drink while intoxicated, and those people, after making that decision, are at risk of injuring an innocent person on the road. The number of deaths caused by drunk driving is shocking, “In 2009, there were 10,839 fatalities in crashes involving a driver with a BAC of .08 or higher – 32 percent of total traffic fatalities for the year” (Newswire 1). These deaths could have easily been prevented, if the person driving the car simply did not drive. The world needs groups of people to spread the actual causes of driving while intoxicated. Luckily, there are organizations that spread the word; Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), and Doctors For Designated Drivers (DFDD).

The beginning of Mothers Against Drunk Driving all started with the promise of one mother, Candice (Candy) Lightner, to not let what happened to her daughter happen to anyone else. Her thirteen-year-old daughter, Cari, was killed in a drunk driving, hit-and-run accident on May 3, 1908. With this initiative, she soon got a group of mothers together whose children were also involved in a car crash. These women did not have any money or anything to help them begin this organization any faster. All they had was their sorrow to prevent this common incident from happening; “They were as their name suggests: MADD” (Fell, Voas 9). These women attacked senators from Congress who knew the statistics about drunk driving, but chose to ignore it. They also attacked businesses that choose to produce more products rather than worry about the safety of the people who consume it. With these efforts, the people of MADD have helped prevent a lot of the factors that go into the cause of drunk driving. They were even involved in raising the drinking age to 21. The organization passed a federal law in which any state who does not raise the drinking age to 21 will have a federal penalty on them. Over the years, MADD grew all over the country, and in 1990, Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada was formed (Fell, Voas14).

MADD does not only try to prevent drunk driving; but also tries to stop alcohol abuse, stop underage drinking, and support those who fall victim to intoxicated driving accidents. As stated in Articles of Incorporation, MADD’s goals were “To aid the victims of crimes performed by individuals driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, to aid the families of such victims and to increase public awareness of the problem of drinking and drugged driving." MADD is spread out through multiple chapters in America and Canada, giving more ground covered. Each of the chapters branch out and visit schools and other places to tell those of the truths to drunk driving. With this help, the number of alcohol related accidents dropped from 30,000 in 1980 to 17,000 today. This shows that the efforts of MADD is working towards their main goal, to stop drunk driving.

Students Against Destructive Decisions was founded around thirty years ago to help youth stop behavior that may cost their lives and the lives of others. Founded as Students Against Driving Drunk in 1981, SADD has made a huge affect on youth around the world. Their main focus is on people in middle school, high school, and college. It is know to be the largest peer-to-peer organization in the nation and the most dominate. In 1997, Students Against Driving Drunk changed its name to Students Against Destructive Decisions, broadening their mission from just preventing drunk drivers to preventing any decision made by a youth that could harm himself or someone else.

Students Against Destructive Decisions has peers talk to other peers all over the country and spread awareness of common problems that the youth face. As stated on the SADD website, “SADD’s unique approach involves young people delivering education and prevention messages to their peers through school- and communitywide activities and campaigns responsive to the needs of their particular locations” (sadd.org paragraph 2). Their overall effect for drunk driving prevention is giving the youth a positive attitude towards not drinking alcohol.

These efforts have changed the world of the youth. Since the founding of Students Against Destructive Decisions, the number of teen alcohol-related accidents has gone down by sixty percent ("SADD: Students Against Destructive Decisions" paragraph 1). Youth who are involved in spreading SADD’s message has expanded to millions all over the nation and all over the world. Some of the activities that these students do include,

Throughout the month, students will compete with other local schools in the Youth of Virginia Speak Out About Traffic Safety challenge. Each of the schools' goals under the challenge is to increase safety belt awareness with seat belt checks, activities at football games and other events, and student pledges for safety (Anderson 1).

These activities help youth learn about drunk driving safety in an interesting way. In ways like this, students are more likely to become aware of seat-belt safety if they are having fun as they learn. This, overall, increases the number of students who practice traffic safety.

Another organization that spreads the awareness of drunk driving is Doctors For Designated Drivers. This was started by a group of medical students at the Bronx-based Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City who chose to combat against drunk driving (7). The point of the program is to raise “public awareness of the dangers of drinking and riving and promoting the use of designated drivers” (“Medical Students…” 7). Through this, DFDD works with any person who is interested in helping and who want to promote the use of designated drivers.

This organization has done accomplishments such as having bar owners give free non-alcoholic drinks or a free meal to those who are designated drivers. The use of designated drivers has saved many lives over the years:

Over nine out of 10 Americans who attend social events where alcohol is served would like to see designated drivers used. And the proportion of people using or being a designated driver has increased dramatically over time. Each year over 73,000,000 Americans either serve as a designated driver or are driven home by one (Hanson paragraph 3).

Designated drivers help those who are intoxicated by preventing the person from embarrassment, avoid having fines, prevent them from going to jail, and to prevent them from injuring or killing themselves or another person. Along with promoting the use of designated drivers, DFDD also promotes the use of the New York transit as a means of getting home for the intoxicated person. This organization overall is trying to stop one from driving when they should not.

         With organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Students Against Destructive Decisions, and Doctors for Designated Drivers, the awareness of drunk driving and the effects that go along with it will be more well known. There has been an obvious decrease in deaths caused by driving while intoxicated. Their efforts help spread the sad truths about what happens when one decides to drive drunk. MADD has a more general focus group, those who may decide to drive while intoxicated. SADD focuses on student audiences and the decisions they have to face, including whether or not to drive drunk. DFDD focuses specifically on the designated drivers and how they can promote the use of a designated driver. With the combination of these three organizations and others like them, the awareness of drunk driving can spread further and reach more people and, ultimately stop the deaths and injuries involved in alcohol-related accidents