According to MADD, “the average drunk driver has driven drunk 80 times before a first arrest, and on any given day, your family shares the roadways with more than 2 million drunk drivers who have had three or more prior convictions.” An ignition interlock device would require a convicted drunk driver to blow into a device in order for the vehicle to start. Thirty-eight states currently authorize the use of publicized sobriety checkpoints. The checkpoints are well publicized ahead of time, reminding drivers not to drink and drive. Vehicles are stopped randomly and drivers suspected of impairment are given a breathalyzer. A sobriety checkpoint is a way for law enforcement to evaluate drivers for signs of impairment at specific checkpoints along a roadway. Short-term high-visibility enforcement amounts to an increased number of officers patrolling a certain area and enforcing sobriety checkpoints. MADD’s strategy to eliminate drunk driving: They’ve created a roadmap to go from 10,000+ drunk driving deaths per year to zero. MADD’s “No More Victims” campaign is a combination of prevention and invention. MADD’s Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving However, MADD’s goal isn’t just to have fewer deaths caused by drunk or drugged drivers it’s to have zero. Thanks to campaigns from advocacy groups like Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), drunk driving deaths are down 50% since 1980, proving stricter laws and advocacy have worked to reduce the number of drunk driving deaths.

The tragic loss of life is impossible to quantify, but it’s estimated that the cost of alcohol-related crashes is over $100 billion annually. Drunk driving is illegal in every state, yet in the United States, someone dies from a drunk driving collision every 52 minutes.

Drunk drivers killed per year