MADD has been proven an effective organization that gets its message across strongly and successfully. According to the organizations website, studies have shown that there has been an increase in individuals who never drink and drive. And that the annual death rate from drinking and driving have greatly decreased from 28,00 in 1980 to 16,068 in the year 2000. In 1982, 57percent of all traffic fatalities were alcohol related, in 2000 beginning statistics showed that the percentage of lethal traffic accidents that were due to the influence of alcohol fell to 38 percent. This has resulted in drunk driving being one of the main and most important concerns on highway safety for Americans today.…
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), formerly Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, is a Texas-based nonprofit organization that fights drunk driving, underage drinking and assists the victims of drunk driving and their families.…
Drunk driving is a major conflict in our communities, states, and our nation overall. This is senseless act takes the lives of too many children and teens as well as adults-innocent people.…
On May 3, 1980 Candy Lightner lost her 13 year old daughter, Cari Lightner, when a drunk driver stuck Cari and killed her tragically. Clarence Bush was the man behind the wheel and Candy Lightner had come to learn that he had a grocery list of arrests for intoxication. Unfortunately, the police officer working on the Cari Lightner case informed Candy that drunk drivers were not prosecuted harshly and Clarenece Busch would unlikely be thrown in jail for his heinous crime (he was eventually founded guilty of vehicular homicide and spent 21 months in jail). With her grief, anger and need for justice, Candy founded MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving).…
The biggest problem in reducing drunk driving fatalities now consists of the hard core of alcoholic drivers who repeatedly drive with BAC's of .15 or higher. But MADD has now decided to go after social drinkers and to eliminate driving after drinking any amount of alcohol beverage. In my opinion Mothers against Drunk Driving stigmatizes light or moderate alcohol consumption, even when it isn't associated with either being underage or driving. This change appears to reflect the influence of a growing neo-prohibitionist movement within MADD.…
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is a nonprofit organization that was created in the United States and is also being implemented in Canada. This organization was created in 1980 by Candice Lighter, from Fair Oaks California, after her then 13 year old daughter was killed by a drunk driver. This organizations mission is to stop drunk driving as well as provides education about drunk driving, supports victims and their families of drunk driving, and fighting for strict policies. This paper will discuss Why MADD was created; the problem that lead to the creation of MADD; how the problem was identified as a social problem; policies created as a result of MADD’s influence; the problems…
Candace Lynne Lightner, also known as Candy Lightner, is well recognized as being the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) (Overbey, 2006). Having been born in the year 1946 in Pasadena, California, Candace graduated from high school and proceeded to enroll in American River College in Sacramento where she also graduated (Lerner, 2011). She later married Steve Lightner and went on to have three children. When her daughter was an infant, Lightner’s car was involved in an accident where it was rammed into from behind by a drunken driver. Fortunately, Serena, the daughter, suffered minor injuries. However, six years down the line, Lighter’s son, Travis, was run over and seriously injured where he suffered numerous broken bones in the process (Levinson, 2002). He went into a coma but unfortunately received permanent brain damage. Travis was run over by an unlicensed driver who was impaired by tranquilizers while driving and what is perhaps most shocking is the fact that the driver did not receive a single ticket following the accident (Overbey, 2006).…
Many DUI offenders were under the influence of illegal drugs or alcohol when they were arrested. However, over-the-counter medications and prescription drugs can lead to a DUI arrest. Although DUI laws and how they are applied to prescription medication vary by state, you can get arrested for driving under the influence of prescription medications or any other legal drug that impairs your ability to drive.…
(Houston, Texas) CarInsuranceComparison.com released a graphic in 2016 showing the ten worst states in terms of driving under the influence. Fortunately, Texas did not rank in the top ten, but individuals shouldn't get too excited. The state came in 14th in the nation in terms of the prevalence of drunk driving. The study took into account factors such as the number of DUI arrests, the quantity of DUI laws, the number of penalties associated with a conviction for DUI and the cost per fatality, along with others. Individuals who are charged with and convicted of driving under the influence face numerous penalties, even those for whom it is a first offense. For this reason, anyone arrested for this crime need to speak to…
Millions of people have been killed in alcohol related accidents, 90 percent of those people were innocent bystanders who were going on about their day minding their own business. Drunk drivers are people who make stupid mistakes ...mistakes they can't fix. Those drivers are the cause of many deaths of innocent bystanders...drunk drivers are the killers of themselves and others. Drunk drivers are murderers...they earn a title that haunts them to the day they die. This title takes away all trust people had for these drinkers...this title takes away all a person's hope and dreams turning them into nothing but mindless alcoholics. Though drunk drivers face punishments as serious as jail time, the consequences of their actions do not generally keep them from getting behind the wheel.…
The problem was identified as a social problem when there were repeat offenders causing bodily harm to others and the consequences were nowhere near where they should be. Mothers Against Drunk Drivers has made a significant impact on our society today…
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is the nation’s largest nonprofit working to protect families from drunk driving and underage drinking. MADD also supports drunk and drugged driving victims (Mothers Against Drunk Driving [MADD], 2000). The MADD organization is the result of the tragic death of Cari Lightner and was highly influenced by the suffering of young Laura Lamb which lead to her death as well. Throughout the years, Mothers Against Drunk Driving has expanded to every state in the United States and a couple other countries as well. MADD changed the public’s perception toward alcohol impaired driving with its many campaigns. Most of these campaigns have resulted in laws and funds that have benefited the victims of drunk drivers and help to deter people from driving drunk to begin with. MADD’s focus for the past few years has been the prevention of underage drinking.…
At some point in our lives we have heard a news report that involved a drunk driver and an innocent victim. Usually these incidents are accidents where a person driving under the influence runs a red light or jumps a curb, hitting, and more often than not, killing an innocent person. These injuries and deaths are all easily preventable. In the United States, over 20% of all motor vehicle related deaths are caused by an impaired driver. Which is why this crime continues to be a national problem that takes the lives of thousands of people every year (Hanson). Way too often the victims of these tragedies are young teens or children. Why people drive drunk is a question that people have been trying to answer for a long time. There have been suggestions to implement tougher DUI laws, which seems like a great idea. Unfortunately, people seem to only look at the downside rather than what tougher laws would do for the safety of the public.…
Imagine being in a bar with a few of your good friends. Everyone is drinking and having a good time. Your are going to leave and go home, but you friends won't let you because they know the dangers of driving after having a few drinks. Instead they ca ll a cab to give you a ride home. You would be extremely lucky to have such smart friends. Drunk driving is a very serious problem in our society today, but it is becomming socially unacceptable causing the numbers of alcohol related traffic fatalites t o decline considerably.…
“…31.2% among persons aged 18 to 20, and peaked among person 21 to 25 at 45.4%” (Harris 130). Teens aged eighteen to twenty are less likely to be involved with alcohol, however, lowering the drinking age would increase the percentage of young drinkers. The chances of a teenager being able to drive to any store, including stores that are specifically designed to sell alcoholic beverages, would increase. This increase would also cause more accidents if the teen was already intoxicated or drove a vehicle while drinking. More intoxicated drivers on the road can lead to fatal accidents that can alter the lives of many individuals. Some individuals do not realize the risks of driving while…