DOT-HS-806 250 HOW TO SAVE LIVES AND REDUCE INJURIES A CITIZEN ACTIVIST GUIDE TO EFFECTIVELY FIGHT DRUNK DRIVING * * The purpose of this guide is to educate victims and concerned citizens on the methods they can use to effectively get drunk drivers off the roads in large enough numbers, so that death and injury associated with alcohol-related crashes can be substantially reduced in their States and communities. .' Prepared for: U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administation Washington, D.C. 20590 August 1982 7­ Information contained in this document does not necessarily represent the views of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. COVER PHOTO: Cindi Lamb and her paralyzed daughter Laura picket to demand that the public be protected from drunk drivers. Laura was crippled by a repeat offender drunk driver when she was five months old. By April Saul, Baltimore Evening Sun. ti FOREWORD This work was inspired by what happened to Laura Lamb, Cari Lightner, and Tommy Sexton, Jr. Three innocent children whose lives were violently destroyed by drunk drivers. Their tragedies could have been prevented. But our society let these three children down. A drunk driver crippled Laura when she was five months old and was riding to a local grocery store with her mother. Laura is now a quadraplegic, and will be confined to a bed or a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Tommy, 15, was killed while being driven home from 'a fishing trip. And Can, 13, was walking in a bicycle lane when a car ran off the road and struck her from behind, killing her. The driver, who was out of jail on bail from another hit and run drunk driving "accident," didn't even stop to render first-aid. What happened to Laura, Tommy, and Cari happens to too many innocent child­ ren. The numbers are staggering. The continuing toll is unexcusable and appal­ ling. Yet, what happened to Laura, Tommy, and Cari continues to happen everyday in the United States. Their parents, like all parents who have lost a child or had a child seriously injured, crippled, or maimed by a drunk driver, will suffer forever. They will learn to cope with their grief, but they will never get over their loss. For many parents it is an almost impossible burden to bear. Millions of American families are suffering because of drunk drivers. There is much unnecessary grief in our country. While several States are now making what appear to be serious attempts to control drunk drivers and reduce death and injury caused in alcohol-related crashes, prior to 1980 not much was being done effectively about the problem in most places in the nation. In early 1980, victims and concerned citizens, galvanized by the disgrace the drunk driving problem had become, organized and learned how to demand that State and local government do a better job protecting the public from drunk drivers. People like Tommy's mother and father, Laura's mother and Cari's mother learned how to fight back at the system and demand reform. And they got it. They were able to help lead the efforts necessary to obtain significant 1Z reform of the drinking driving problem in California where Cari was killed and in Maryland where Tommy was killed and Laura was crippled. Joined by thousands of other victims and concerned citizens, together they were able to help get better anti-drunk driving laws in their States and a new commitment from their governors and other State officials to aggressively attack the drunk driving problem. Their struggle to get the drunks off the roads helped alert the nation to the problem, and the success they achieved has helped to inspire thousands of people to also work for reform in their States and communities. Much work remains to be done to improve the anti-drunk driving systems in California and Maryland and other States that have begun working on the problem, but it is clear that many lives will be saved and injuries prevented because people like Tommy's parents, Laura's, and Cari's mothers fought back and refused to allow the carnage caused by drunk drivers to continue unchallenged any longer. Much of the strategy that they used (and additional strategy) to force significant efforts to better control drunk driving is contained in this guide. What Mr. and Mrs. Sexton, Mrs. Lamb, and Mrs. Lightner accomplished can be duplicated in any State, city, or county in the nation. And what they did needs to be done in every State, city, and county in the nation. With this manual as a guide it can be done. This guide is based on more than 1,000 interviews conducted nationwide by an investigative reporter, Sandy Golden, and the knowledge formulated while helping to induce corrective action in Maryland, California, West Virgina, Pennsylvania, and numerous other States and local communities. The methods in the manual have been proven to work and the advice to be sound in these situations. It provides a framework from which to build. The public doesn't won't put up with drunk driving anymore and will get behind efforts to correct the problems that drunk drivers cause. With this guide, a victim, a survivor, or a concerned citizen can help save lives and reduce serious injuries caused by drunk drivers. The future of many innocent children and adults will depend on its use. Your life may depend on it. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Foreword -i- What this Guide is About -vii- The Word "Accident" -viii- The Term: Drunk Driver -ix- CHAPTER 1: THE ALCOHOL CRASH PROBLEM IN THE UNITED STATES 1 The Problem 1 CHAPTER 2: THE SOLUTION TO THE ALCOHOL CRASH PROBLEM IN ,%'E UNITED STATES 4 Is There A Solution? 4 The Solution 4 A Good System To Control and Deter Drunk Drivers 5 The Current System in States and Communities 7 CHAPTER 3: CITIZEN ACTIVISM 9 Citizen Activist Groups 9 Existing Organizations 10 How to Organize a Citizen Activist Group 11 _1 Getting Help 19 Implementing Strategy--Tools for the Activist 23 4 Lobbying for Better Drunk Driving Legislation 33 Anti-Drunk Driving Laws 35 PAGE CHAPTER 4: THE TASK FORCE CONCEPT 41 How to Get a State.or Local Level Task Force Started 42 The Strategy 45 Who Should be on the Task Force 47 The Task Force Report 48 CHAPTER 5: THE DRUNK DRIVER CONTROL SYSTEM 0 50 Understanding and Investigating the System 50 o Police 50 o Prosecution 56 o Judges and Courts 59 o Probation. 64 o Education and Treatment 65 o Department of Motor Vehicles 66 How to Finance the Drunk Driver Control System 67 CHAPTER 6: THE MEDIA 70 The Role of the Media 70 How to Use the Media 71 Getting Drunk Drivers' Names Published 76 y The Press Conference 77 CHAPTER 7: A FEW MORE POINTS 82 Advice from the National Safety Council 82 More Good Advice--Protect Yourself 82 Conclusion 84 PAGE APPENDIX A. List of Citizen Activist Groups 85 B. Governors' Highway Safety Representatives 87 C. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Regional Offices 99 D. Sample Victim Testimony 102 E. Sample Activist Speech 103 F. Sample Local Task Force Letters 105 G. Sample Task Force Endorsement Letters 108 H. Sample State Task Force Letters 111 I. Sample Petition 116 J. Sample Activist Group Letterhead (MADD) 117 K. Objectives and Workplan for St. Louis, Missouri Task Force 118 L. Sample Court Monitoring Letter 125 M. Court Monitoring News Article 126 N. Prosecution News Article 127 0. Naming Drunk Drivers 128 P. The Alcohol-Crash Problem in the United States 130 Q. The Problem Simplified 131 R. NHTSA Comprehensive Alcohol Safety Problem Recommendations 132 S. Sample Editorials 135 T. Dear Colleague Letter 138 U. Sample Pre-Press Release 140 PAGE V. Dial-A-Ride Program 142 W. DISCUS Advertisment 143 X. Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk 144 Y. Magazine and News Articles on Drunk Driving 146 F WHAT THIS GUIDE IS ABOUT This guide is designed to teach you the basics of exactly how to get drunk drivers off the roads in enough numbers so that there will, in fact, be signifi­ cantly fewer innocent people killed and injured where you live. And it only takes one motivated person to get the needed efforts underway. By using this manual, you can expect to: o­ Educate the public about how serious the drunk driving problem really is. o­ Trigger significant efforts to control drunk drivers. o­ Help get better anti,-drunk driving laws in your State. o­ Get the police to arrest significantly more drunk drivers. o­ Discourage social drinkers from excessive drinking and driving. o­ Obtain better prosecution of drunk drivers. o­ Improve the courts. o­ Obtain better sentencing by judges. o­ Help improve alcohol abuse treatment and education programs for drunk drivers. o­ Generate public support for improved drunk driver control. The concepts, methods, and advice given in this guide have been proven to work. They will work for you. The fact of the matter is that you don't have to tolerate drunk drivers in your community any longer. With this guide it will be possible to obtain better control of drinking drivers to the point that significantly fewer innocent people will be killed and injured in alcohol-related crashes. i THE WORD ACCIDENT Let's get the word "accident" out of our vocabulary when referring to an alcohol-related crash. There is no such thing as a drunk driving "accident." It is a collision that follows a crime--the crime of drinking to excess and driving.