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Walk like MADD against drunk driving
Group garners 500 supporters
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. -- Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) leadership will join 500 local supporters at Huntington City Beach to participate in Walk Like MADD, a 5K non-competitive walk that encourages the community to support MADD's Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 1,276 people were killed in California in traffic crashes involving a driver or a motorcycle operator with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher in 2006.
"The main reason people continue to drive drunk today - despite 27 years of intense public education and law enforcement's best efforts - is because they can," said Glynn Birch, national president of MADD. "My son might be here today if the offender that killed him had an interlock on his vehicle." Birch's 21-month-old-son Courtney was killed on May 3, 1988, more than 20 years ago, by a drunk driver with a blood alcohol level of .26 at the time of the crash and was driving with a revoked license and three prior DUI convictions.
An alcohol ignition interlock is a breath test device linked to a vehicle's ignition system used on the vehicles of convicted drunk drivers. Studies have shown that these devices are up to 90 percent effective in reducing recidivism while installed on the vehicle. If all states required alcohol ignition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers, we could save up to 4,000 lives a year.
Unfortunately for residents of California, judges who have the option to require interlocks for people convicted of their first DUI frequently do not. Data from 2003 indicates that judges only required 3.8 percent of all convicted drunk drivers to install an ignition interlock on their vehicle. Nationally, it is estimated that only one out of eight convicted drunk drivers each year has an interlock installed on their vehicle.
To address the limited use of these lifesaving devices, California's state legislature is currently considering legislation that would greatly expand California's interlock program. Assembly Bill 2784, sponsored by Assembly Member Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), would require all convicted drunk drivers, including those facing their first conviction, to install an alcohol ignition interlock on their vehicle for a specified period of time in order to have their license reinstated. The bill has already passed the State Assembly's Committee on Public Safety and will soon be heard in the Assembly's Appropriations Committee.
"We in California take pride in the fact that we are a traffic safety leader," said Assemblyman Todd Spitzer (R-Orange). "AB 2784 has the power to save lives and prevent thousands of needless injuries due to drunk driving. It is imperative that the state Assembly and Senate pass this bill in order to ensure that our roadways are safer for California families."
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