MADD pulling out all the stops in Houston area
Group uses both education and prevention in one area for first time

By ALEXIS GRANT
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

After launching a nationwide campaign last week to eliminate drunken driving, Mothers Against Drunk Driving decided the Houston area, with one of the highest rates of drunken driving fatalities in the country, needed some extra attention.

For the first time, the group will implement all of its educational and prevention programs in one area, in an effort to cut down on alcohol-related crashes here. Leaders plan to unveil the pilot program today, with the support of local families who have lost loved ones to drivers under the influence.

"Drunk driving is a choice," said Melissa Roschal, whose 17-year-old brother, Robert Austin Reyna, and three of his friends died last Christmas after their van was hit by a drunken, underage driver.

"These little kids in that van didn't have a choice," Roschal said. "They were robbed of a choice because somebody else decided to be irresponsible."

MADD is hoping to prevent that from happening to other Houston-area families with its Take the Wheel initiative. The organization will hold four town hall meetings, support a MADD chapter at the University of Houston, and implement all of its youth programs, from elementary to high school, in the Humble Independent School District.

"We figure if we're going to work on an initiative like this nationwide, we need to hit the area that has the biggest problem," said Lynn Fields, co-chairwoman of the MADD Southeast Regional Council in Texas.

Harris County had the highest rate of alcohol-related traffic fatalities, 5.5 per 100,000 people, of the 10 most populated counties in the country last year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

That year, 3,504 people were killed in automobile crashes in Texas, 45 percent of those the result of alcohol-related wrecks, NHTSA reported. The national average was 39 percent.

Part of MADD's initiative is targeting repeat offenders by encouraging judges and prosecutors to mandate use of ignition interlocks, devices that require drivers to pass a Breathalyzer test before starting the engine. Under Texas law, a blood-alcohol level of .08 percent is the legal limit for drivers.

Texas law requires drivers with two or more DWI convictions in five years to install the technology, but MADD wants all convicted offenders to use them.

The organization also is starting a court-monitoring program in Houston to track the outcomes of drunken driving cases, and is pushing state lawmakers to allow police to conduct sobriety checkpoints. Texas is one of 11 states where police are not authorized to randomly inspect drivers for alcohol at designated locations.

"Think before you get behind the wheel," Fields said. "It's very easy for people to go to a holiday party or a sporting event and have a couple of drinks and think they're OK to get behind the wheel."

italicalexis.grant@chron.com

 

I really hope they dont do the stop points. I dont believe I should have to go through the stop wehn I havent been drinking.