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Mothers Against Drunk Driving is speaking out against a pending bill that would restrict the ability of officers to enforce certain laws during sobriety checkpoints.

According to the advocacy group, Assembly Bill 1389 condones driving without a valid driver’s license by preventing law enforcement from enforcing current laws meant to protect people on roadways, such as whether the motorist has a valid driver’s license and vehicle registration, as well as checking for outstanding warrants or probation violations.

“If lawmakers want to change the licensing requirements to operate legally on California roadways, do it without compromising law enforcement’s ability to enforce DUI laws,” said Mary Klotzbach, public policy liaison for MADD California.

In 2009, DMV reported that there were 170,622 convictions for driving without a license in California. Of these convictions, 43,598 were for operating illegally on a suspended license due to a previous DUI.

“Sobriety checkpoints are one of the most critical tools available for law enforcement to deter drunk driving,” Klotzbach said. “Sobriety checkpoints send a message that if a motorist chooses to drive drunk, he or she will get caught.”
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MADD, the national organization dedicated to fighting drunk driving, announced Thursday that a Maryland woman who lost her 15-year-old daughter in a crash caused by an intoxicated motorist has been elected its national president.

Jan Withers of Upper Marlboro, who will serve a three-year term at MADD’s helm, was introduced at a news conference at the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

According to MADD, Withers joined the group in 1992 after her daughter, Alisa Joy, was killed in a crash caused by an underage drunk driver.  Withers, who has served as a MADD volunteer for almost 20 years, will take office July 1.

According to MADD, Withers was an active participant in the successful national and Maryland campaigns to lower the blood-alcohol content level at which a driver is considered drunk from .10 to .08, which has become the national standard. She has served on the national MADD board since 2005.

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Oakville – As Canadians plan their Thanksgiving feasts, MADD Canada is asking them to also spend some time planning safe and sober transportation to and from their holiday parties.

“If you’re travelling to spend time with family, or hosting the Thanksgiving feast yourself, please be sure that everyone has a safe way home,” said MADD Canada National President Denise Dubyk. “It only takes a few minutes and it could be the difference between happy memories and a tragic, life-changing impaired driving crash.”

Every day, on average, four Canadians are killed and 200 are injured in impaired driving crashes. Dinner parties and get-togethers, as well as an increase in the volume of traffic, make holidays and long weekends particularly risky. MADD Canada is urging anyone who plans to raise a few drinks in celebration this weekend to arrange for a cab or designated driver, take public transit or arrange to stay the night.

“If everyone plans ahead, we can celebrate a crash-free weekend where no one has to face the terrible consequences of impaired driving,” Ms. Dubyk said.

As a long-time sponsor, Allstate Canada supports MADD Canada’s national education and awareness programs and its seasonal messaging about the importance of safe driving.

“At Allstate Canada, we know the important role that every driver plays in keeping our roads and highways safe,” said Chris Kiah, President and Chief Executive Officer of Allstate Insurance Company of Canada. “With so many options available, there is never any excuse for getting behind the wheel impaired. Let’s all do our part for a happy and safe holiday weekend that is free from the tragedy of impaired driving.”

About MADD Canada
MADD Canada (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) is a national, charitable organization that is committed to stopping impaired driving and supporting the victims of this violent crime. With volunteer-driven groups in more than 100 communities across Canada, MADD Canada aims to offer support services to victims, heighten awareness of the dangers of impaired driving and save lives and prevent injuries on our roads.

About Allstate Insurance Company of Canada
Allstate Insurance Company of Canada produces and distributes home and auto insurance products across Canada. The “Good Hands Network” enables consumers to contact Allstate’s 93 community-based agencies, directly on-line at www.allstate.ca and through the Customer Contact Centre at 1-800-allstate.

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FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (WUSA) – There’s a lot of focus on the fact that Carlos Montano is an illegal immigrant. But leaders at MADD say the real problem is our drunk driving laws, and how time and time again, drunk drivers with serious alcohol problems are allowed to get right back in the seat of a car.

Montano’s racked up a frightening record: reckless driving, public drunkenness, speeding, three times driving after his license was revoked, and two DUI convictions.

“It doesn’t matter if he’s from the moon, Bolivia or the United States. He shouldn’t have been driving drunk,” says Jeff Levy with Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Levy says the first time someone is caught driving drunk, they’ve already driven drunk without getting caught 87 times, according to MADD statistics. That’s why MADD is pushing for laws that require interlock devices for first time DUI offenders. Interlock devices require the driver to blow into a breathalyzer. It won’t let the car start if the driver has been drinking.

Arizona and New Mexico are two out of about a dozen that require interlock devices for first time DUI offenders. Those states report a more than 30% decline in alcohol related crashes, injuries and deaths.

Virginia only requires interlock devices for second time offenders.

“We think anyone convicted of DUI should be prevented from driving. It’s as simple as that,” says Levy.

“Had you put the interlock device on the car (Montano was driving) after the first time, rather then giving him break after break after break, until he’s impaired again and killed someone,” said Jack Dalton, the director of public policy for National Interlock System, Inc.

Sure drinking and driving kills people and those guilty of it should be punished, but until we have a foolproof system of proving that guilt I think Virgina DUI laws should stay as they are.

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On his first day at the police academy in 2003, Officer David Vidaure said his dream was to become a motor officer.

“And I did it,” Vidaure said with a big smile.

He graduated from motor school in December 2006 and was placed in his new assignment in 2008, now working on a DUI squad.

In February, Vidaure, 32, was honored at a banquet held by The Arizona Chapter of the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) for his “outstanding dedication to reduce drunk driving in Arizona.” He was one of 20 officers throughout the state to receive the award.

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LAKE FOREST Orange County Sheriff Deputies who made almost 200 drunken driving arrests in the city last year will be honored tonight at the City Council meeting.

Each year Mothers Against Drunk Driving recognizes deputies for their outstanding efforts in arresting drunk drivers and removing them from the roadways in Orange County.

The 2009 recipients of the MADD Deuce Award – given to peace officers who make more than 25 arrests for DUI in a calendar year – are Deputy Dallas Hennessey with 53 arrests, Deputy Bill Longan with 52 arrests, Deputy Anthony Ramirez with 51 DUI arrests and Deputy Christine Chang wit 25 arrests.

If you have been arrested for DUI in Orange County, Florida contact John Musca.

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Mothers Against Drunk Driving national president Laura Dean-Mooney declared Monday the Senate made a grave error by dropping a requirement that DUI offenders prove they had a breath-test device installed on the vehicle’s ignition system before being allowed to get behind the wheel in Kansas.

She told members of the House Judiciary Committee the near-unanimous action by the Senate undermined the state’s enforcement of a law intended to force DUI recipients to blow into a portable breathalyzer to ensure they haven’t consumed alcoholic beverages before starting a vehicle.

“An offender will be less likely to comply with the law,” said Dean-Mooney, whose husband, Mike, was killed in 1991 by an intoxicated driver in Texas.

The 2006 Legislature created the interlock mandate in response to weak compliance with court-ordered installation of the devices.

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Even when we know better, we humans continue to do things that are dumb and destructive, like driving while using a cellphone. Texting even!

Twenty-eight percent of traffic accidents occur when people talk on cellphones or send text messages while driving, according to a study released Tuesday by the National Safety Council.
The vast majority of those crashes, 1.4 million annually, are caused by cellphone conversations, and 200,000 are blamed on text messaging, according to the report from the council, a nonprofit group recognized by congressional charter as a leader on safety.

More laws are unlikely to change anything, since there are not enough law enforcement officers to stop the trend. But a public service campaign, by a group modeled after Mothers Against Drunk Driving, might help.

Because of the extent of the problem, federal transportation officials unveiled a organization Tuesday, patterned after Mothers Against Drunk Driving, that will combat driver cellphone use. The group, FocusDriven, grew out of a meeting on distracted driving sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation in the District last year.

Virtually everyone owns a cellphone, and it’s evident to anyone who drives regularly that huge numbers of people, including some who support a ban, use them while driving. Persuading people to break that habit could be a tall order for FocusDriven.

“It’s hard because everyone’s addicted to their cellphone,” said FocusDriven’s president, Jennifer Smith, a Texan whose mother was killed by a man who ran a red light while talking on his cellphone. “That’s where we come in. We put a real, human face to it. We’re going to put the pressure on legislatures.”

Good for them.

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Even the blizzard warning didn’t keep people away from the MADD Colorado kick-off of the 2009 Walk Like MADD campaign at the Pepsi Center today. Denver’s 4th Annual Walk Like MADD event helps raise money and awareness to support MADD’s Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving, which calls for lifesaving alcohol ignition interlocks for all drunk drivers, sobriety checkpoints and/or saturation patrols, community support and the development and exploration of advanced technologies that will one day make a vehicle inoperable by a drunk driver.
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