WASHINGTON, D.C. - (June 26, 2002) 

Between 1980  - - the year MADD was founded  - - and 1994 alcohol-related traffic deaths dropped by a dramatic 43 percent.  Since then, the annual drunk driving death toll has stalled at approximately 16,000 to 17,000.  In 2000, alcohol-related traffic deaths increased by the largest percentage on record, and 2001 preliminary reports show virtually no change as crashes involving alcohol now represent 40 percent of total highway fatalities. An estimated 513,000 people were injured in alcohol-related crashes last year alone.

"This shocking amount of injury and death on our nation's roadways also creates a tremendous drain on the nation's economy," says Hamilton.  "Economic losses due to motor vehicle crashes cost the nation approximately $230.6 billion annually, an average of $820 for every person living in the United States."

MADD says the reauthorization of TEA-21 offers Congress the opportunity to capture and reallocate existing traffic safety funds to help make progress in the war on drunk driving.  Among MADD's recommendations is the establishment of a dedicated National Traffic Safety Fund to provide substantially increased resources for priority traffic safety programs.  

"It is time to bolster the federal government's effort to reduce the devastating and costly consequences of motor vehicle crashes.  MADD recommends dedicated revenues of at least $1 billion annually for a National Traffic Safety Fund, a sum that is still less than one half of one percent of what traffic crashes cost Americans each year," says Hamilton.  "It has been estimated that for every dollar spent on effective highway safety programs, about $30 is saved by society in the reduced costs of crashes."

MADD based additional recommendations on its new "Getting MADD All Over Again" plan, which will be distributed to every member of Congress, including the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.  In addition to recommending the establishment of a National Traffic Safety Fund, MADD's plan calls for:

• Resuscitating the nation's efforts to prevent impaired driving by calling on the citizens and the nation's leaders to "Get MADD All Over Again."     
• Increasing DWI/DUI enforcement, especially the use of frequent, highly publicized sobriety checkpoints    
• Enacting primary enforcement seat belt laws in all states     
• Enacting tougher, more comprehensive sanctions geared toward higher-risk drivers repeat offenders, drivers with high blood-alcohol levels, and DWI/DUI offenders driving with suspended licenses    
• Reducing underage drinking -- the No. 1 youth drug problem - -  through improving minimum drinking age laws, adopting tougher alcohol advertising standards and increasing enforcement and awareness of laws such as zero tolerance drinking-driving and sales to minors    
• Increasing beer excise taxes to equal the current excise tax on distilled spirits.  Higher beer taxes are associated with lower rates of traffic fatalities and youth alcohol consumption.     
• Reinvigorating court-monitoring programs to identify shortcomings in the judicial system and produce higher conviction rates and stiffer sentences for offenders.