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Abstract: Precipitated by the death of the founder's child at the hands of a repeat drunken driving offender, Mothers Against Drunk Driving began as a grassroots, activist movement. With one lone mother in California, the movement expanded to Maryland where another mother and her baby suffered devastating consequences caused by an impaired driver. The movement then gathered exponential steam and expanded across the country. Combining efforts with public health organizations, as well as national, state, and local initiatives, MADD has been able to contribute to the reduction in fatalities caused by impaired drivers. Currently, MADD not only supports the legislation and enforcement of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) legislation, but also supports the families and victims of drunk and impaired drivers, as well as advocating for the elimination of underage drinking.
Keywords: alcohol, automobile accidents, MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Since its inception in 1980, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has had an influential history promoting grassroots advocacy against driving while intoxicated or impaired by alcoholic beverages (Fell & Vosa, 2006). So effective has this organization been, that it is estimated that 94% of all Americans recognize MADD's name and are familiar with its purpose of changing national attitudes concerning driving while impaired or intoxicated (Gallop Organization, 2005). Further, the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA, 2004) revealed that deaths due to alcohol related causes had fallen from 30,000 in 1980 to 16,694 in 2002, representing a 44% reduction in alcohol related traffic deaths. Although the number of drivers on the road continued to increase, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013) reported that by 2010 the number of deaths in alcohol-related automobile accidents had decreased further to 10,228. Even though the link between drinking and driving was uncovered, individual states were slow to respond with appropriate laws to enforce penalties for drivers impaired by alcohol (Fell & Vosa, 2006). Yet, throughout its history of advocacy for sober driving, MADD has impacted the landscape of impaired driving practices in the USA and worldwide.
History
Pre-MADD: 1900-1966
By the 19th century, motor vehicle accidents became problematic in the United States, with alcohol related incidents identified as a contributing factor in accidents (Fell &Vosa, 2006). As early as 1904, the American Association for the Study...