Believe a simple fact: Alcohol ignition interlocks save lives
Laura Dial // The Tennessean (Tennessee Voices)February 21, 2010
I read with great concern the opinion in The Tennessean on Feb. 18 written by the managing director of the American Beverage Institute regarding life-saving alcohol ignition interlocks ("MADD's interlock proposal lumps all drinkers in same category").
The institute has a long, sad history of fighting to keep drunken drivers on the road. Over the past 20 years, this Washington-based organization has opposed nearly every measure proven effective and widely accepted by the public to stop drunken driving and save lives.
Being lenient to first-time drunken driving offenders practically guarantees more drunken-driving offenses. The average first-time offender has driven drunk 87 times before his or her first arrest. Contrary to the institute's false claims, this is not a social drinker who has a beer or two at a ballgame, a glass of wine with dinner or a champagne toast. In the 30 years since MADD was founded, Americans have learned the devastating effects of drunken driving and know what they are risking by getting behind the wheel when intoxicated - their lives and the lives of others. But people continue to drive drunk, because they can.
In Tennessee, 32 percent of traffic crashes in 2008 were caused by drunken drivers. House Bill 2917/Senate Bill 2897 would make alcohol ignition interlocks a requirement for convicted drunken driving offenders, preventing their vehicles from starting if the driver has an illegal amount of alcohol in their system. This bill is not a "one-size-fits-all" approach. Rep. Henry Fincher and Sen. Randy McNally's proposed legislation has a tiered system of punishments that calls for a one-year interlock period on a first offense, with progressively longer interlock periods for repeat offenses mirroring current license revocation periods. The legislation isn't punishing people for drinking, but is punishing those who are convicted for driving drunk.
Alcohol ignition interlocks are reliable and effective. Twelve states require them for all convicted drunken drivers, including first-time offenders. A number of states, including Kentucky, are considering similar life-saving legislation. And if every state required interlocks for all convicted drunken drivers, we could save 4,000 lives every year.
Further demonstrating how out-of-touch the American Beverage Institute is, the public is strongly in favor of this life-saving technology, with 65 percent approval for alcohol ignition interlocks for first-time offenders. Even 82 percent of offenders believe alcohol ignition interlocks are a fair and effective sanction - in part because it prevents them from harming others while at the same time allowing them the ability to continue to drive.
The institute does not express the views of the restaurant and alcohol industries as a whole but rather a fragment that is vastly out of step with other industry groups. If states were to set policy based on its misinformation campaign, more lives would be lost to drunken driving.
Laura Dial is state executive director of MADD Tennessee; e-mail laura.dial@madd.org.
Richard Berman has been a regular front man for business and industry in campaigns against consumer safety and environmental groups. Through his public affairs firm, Berman and Company, Berman has fought unions, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, PETA and other watchdog groups in their efforts to raise awareness about obesity, the minimum wage, the dangers of smoking, mad cow disease, drunk driving, and other causes. Berman runs at least 15 industry-funded front groups and projects, such as the Center for Union Facts and holds 16 "positions" in those organizations.
Each year, Berman, using his front groups to spread misinformation, spends millions of dollars distracting the public with misleading ads.
As a result of his largesse, in 2006, Richard Berman used $2,000,000 in cash to buy this $3.3 million house.
