MADDness
Information courtesy of Lawrence Taylor - DUIblog
Someone once described insanity as doing the same thing over and over and always expecting a different result...
This month's (May 2006) "MADD E-newsletter" contains the following call to arms (and request for more contributions):
Drunk Driving Deaths On The Rise
U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta declared highway traffic deaths a "national tragedy" when the Department of Transportation's National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) released its preliminary Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)
data showing that 43,200 people died on the nation's highways, up from 42,636 in 2004. The data also shows that, alarmingly, alcohol-related traffic fatalities increased 1.7 percent from 16,694 in 2004 to 16,972 in 2005.
This was accompanied by a link to the following commentary on their website:
"MADD is profoundly concerned about the unsettling increase in drunk driving fatalities and innocent victims behind the FARS data,” says Glynn Birch, MADD national president. “These numbers show that nearly 17,000 of our friends and loved ones died not because of a terrible disease, natural causes or terrorism, but because of someone's senseless decision to drive while intoxicated.”
The preliminary data underscores the country's complacency regarding drunk driving, which is taking its toll in precious lives.
“America has the level of drunk driving that it chooses to have,” Birch says. “Drunk driving is a purely man-made disaster and, unlike hurricanes and tsunamis, we know how to stop drunk driving.”