Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Mothers against Drunk Driving

June 26, 2015

Drinking and driving was formally considered as a social norm in the 1970’s and 80’s. In these days being an adult meant you were able to buy alcohol, the times then were so relaxed teenagers bought and consumed alcohol also. In total regret the ill-advised system caused many deaths of adults, teenagers, and children. Drinking and driving was becoming the unfortunate cause of the increasing numbers of deaths in our country. The government did not decree legislation to reduce the probability of incidents that involved drinking and driving. A woman by the name of Candy Lightner had a daughter that was killed by a driver that was drunk. According to “Madd” (2015), this incident will be the reason why America will change its view on drinking and driving. In May of 1980 Candy’s life changed, after her daughter’s death she became an advocate. Her advocacy helped the community understand their mistaken beliefs and irresponsibleness that was linked to drinking and driving.                                

 In the 1980’s the age requirement to purchase was different in each state. Some states age limit for drinking was as young as 18. This was a problem that resulted in teens driving out of state to purchase alcohol. Other problems were that the creators of M.A.D.D. encountered was the communities’ thoughts and beliefs when it came to drinking. According to “Madd” (2015), driving while intoxicated was considered normal. During these times you were more likely to see drinking and driving on movies and advertisements. The unfortunate result of this era and advertisements drinking and driving was a behavior that was acceptable, and if punishable you would only get a slap on the wrist. DUI delinquents often led to becoming a repetitive offender and this cause many deaths in the past.

The advocates of M.A.D.D. believed that a lot of alcohol related problems would decrease if the legal drinking age was increased. Later on the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was put into place. To make sure the states abided by the new laws, if any person was served alcohol under the age of 21 their federal highway allotment would be reduced by ten percent. The regrettable result of the drinking age increasing was, the number of accidents that involved alcohol did not get lower. In 1988 a drunk driver had a head on collision with a bus that was coming home from a church outing.  24 children and 3 adults were killed and there were 30 others injured in the result of the accident. This accident gained a lot of attention, and this is what made America more aware of the problem that was being faced.