Thursday, December 16, 2010

FOLLOW UP POST

I think that it is a great and wonderful thing that mothers who do not want to put up with drunk drivers out there, who are not being responsible. I do commend them very much because these mothers are making a difference every day with everything that they do. I do agree that the drunk drivers need to be held responsible for the actions that they make. There are many people young and old that drink on a daily basis. Some do not know that just drinking can take someone's lives at any moment. It is our job and the job of mothers like in MADD to let them know the consequences that can happen.

Sometimes I do ask myself why people drink and drive. I personally do not drink and I think that if i were too then I would make sure that I had someone to drive me, or i would drink responsibly. There are so many commercials and campaigns out there that tell everyone not to drink and drive, but most still do it. It is not until someone gets into a car accident or someone gets hurt that a person starts drinking responsibly.In response to erika's comment, I think that we would like to say that they have mental issues, but it may not be that simple. I think that a lot of people only think of themselves first and how they want to feel.

Punishment I believe should definitely be an solution to people who drink and drive. I think that if you danger someone else's life thats not your own, then you should take responsibility. I am glad that the mothers started this group, but am saddened that they had to start this group because of the horrible incident that happened to the leaders.

I definitely support MADD as well because I have been researching everything that they have been doing and everything that they have been doing has been positive to not only themselves, but others. They have motivation and are only there to protect us.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

MADD

Today I am going to be educating you a little bit about the drinking age in California and an organization called MADD, which stands for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, that has a valued opinion on the drinking age. Their mission statement is to stop drunk driving, support the victims of violent crimes and prevent underage drinking.



MADD started in 1980 by a lady by the name of Candice Lighter. Candace Lighter's daughter was killed by a drunk driver and it wasn't until she found out that he was under the influence, that she decided to take action. She got together with another mother whose child had been killed by a drunk driver as well, and they decided to let the world know how they felt about this problem. They had big hopes and dreams to stop drunk driving all around the United States and to ensure that more people were not killed.

MADD has made big impacts on this world including making sure the drinking age was 21 and not 18. On July 17, 1984 the law that stated that the drinking age had to be 21 was being put into effect. MADD supports this law and advocates that everyone should wait until the age of 21 before they drink alcohol.

Another important thing that MADD did, was that they helped establish sobriety checkpoints, which is what most of you are familiar with today. If you do not know already, sobriety checkpoints are set in certain places during the middle of the night or very late at night by police or law enforcement making sure no one who is driving is under the influence. These checkpoints helped to keep more drunk drivers off of the streets and not on the streets where they can be dangerous to themselves and others.

MADD has a motivation for everything that they do, and are just trying to prevent more families from going through the same thing that they went through.