Jim Burke Automotive Body Shop

MADD's Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving

Approximately 13,000 people are killed every year in drunk driving collisions. In response to this shocking statistic, eleven years ago, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) launched its Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving. Since its inception, public support for this group and its initiatives has exploded and is still growing, as celebrities, politicians and entire communities have gotten involved to make this campaign an unprecedented success. 

MADD’s mission is constructed based on three important steps to stop drunk driving. At Jim Burke Automotive Body Shop, we support MADD's mission, in the hopes that one day we will no longer see news stories about deaths by drunk driving in Birmingham and all over AL. These three steps are:

1. Support Your Heroes: Support your local police in their efforts to catch drunk drivers, and hopefully keep others from drunk driving.

2. Leverage the Technology: Work to make ignition interlock devices or in-car breathalyzers mandatory for all drunk drivers. This way, they can prove that they are sober before their vehicle will start, giving the public and themselves an added layer of safety. 

3. Stay On Message: Support the development of emerging technology that will help determine whether or not a driver is above the legal blood alcohol content limit. MADD also wants to make sure that things such as "buzzed driving" and adolescent drunk driving are constantly on everyone's radars.

MADD's campaign has been highly successful. Here are some of the results:

·         28 states and the District of Columbia now have mandatory all-offender ignition interlock laws.

·         All 50 states currently have one form or another of ignition interlock laws in effect.

·         Advanced in-vehicle alcohol detection technology is no longer simply just a concept, but is now in its second phase of development and looking plausible in new cars by 2020.

Sobriety Checkpoints

One of the most successful enforcement tools in this country now are sobriety checkpoints, which are proven to cut down on fatalities by an impressive 20 percent.  Checkpoints are normally publicized in advance and signs are usually posted at the approach to the sobriety checkpoints. Cars are stopped in an exact sequence at predetermined points on the road, to retain drivers' individual rights. But, it also keeps drunk drivers off the road altogether, making it an effective deterrent.

Moms and DADSS Keeping Families Safe

In 2006, MADD, the federal government, traffic safety advocates all over the U.S. and spokespeople from the automotive industry created a panel to support the development of new technology that would stop drivers from driving a vehicle drunk.  The result was DADSS or Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety.  Together, MADD and DADSS are working toward a country that will be free from drunk driving, in conjunction with cutting-edge technology and a common sense approach to safety.

Sources: MADD, NHTSA and Yahoo