A recently released study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 2,335 children died in car crashes involving drinking drivers between 1997 and 2002; of those children killed, 68 percent were riding in the car with a drinking driver.
MADD has released a report, "Child Endangerment Report: Every Child Deserves a Designated Driver," which outlines weaknesses in state laws against child endangerment and calls for increased penalties and more training and awareness about the problem.
The report, which was prepared by a panel of national experts, found that drivers who are caught drinking and driving with a child in the car are often not charged with child endangerment and that when such charges are brought, they are often reduced through plea-bargaining or dismissed.
MADD National President Wendy J. Hamilton said the report highlights the dangers faced by large numbers of children. "No child should be put at risk by having to ride in the car with a drinking driver," Hamilton said. "We call on lawmakers and public safety officials to do more to stop drivers from taking deadly chances with the lives of kids."
"Driving intoxicated with kids in the car is a form of child abuse pure and simple," said Hamilton. "It must not be tolerated by lawmakers, communities, or family members."
The MADD report makes several recommendations, including calls to:
- Provide public awareness and training on child endangerment issues for judges, attorneys, law enforcement, family services, and other heath and safety officials.
- Establish state child endangerment laws that apply specifically to children at least 16 years old.
Increase enforcement of child passenger safety laws, adopt primary seat belt laws, and consider a provision for adding points to driver's license records for violations.
- Provide for the revocation or suspension of drivers' licenses for alcohol-related child endangerment violations.
- Require installation of alcohol ignition interlock device on vehicles used by a child endangerment offender to transport children.
- Include a mandatory provision in every separation agreement and divorce decree that prohibits either parent from drinking and driving (or driving under the influence of other drugs) with minor children in the vehicle.
"Interventions such as sobriety checkpoints and vigorous enforcement of child safety seat and seat belt laws save lives. We also know that primary seat belt laws, which allow police to stop and ticket a motorist solely for being unbelted, work to reduce crash deaths," said Sue Binder, MD, CDC Injury Center Director. "Broader use community-based interventions such as these will help protect our nation's children from the dangers of alcohol-impaired driving."
The MADD report highlights the Jan. 1, 1998 death of Carlie McDonald, a 5-year-old Wyoming girl killed by her intoxicated mother who was driving with a blood-alcohol content level of 0.22, more than twice the illegal limit. At the time of the crash, Carlie was placed in a front seat; a safety booster seat was unused in the back seat.
"Nobody should have to go through what I have after I lost Carlie," Carlie's father, Lieutenant Carl McDonald of the Wyoming Highway Patrol, said. "Adults who drink have no business driving in any circumstances. But getting behind the wheel drunk with a child in the car is a crime that needs to be enforced and punished severely."
