This morning we participated in the Walk Like MADD (Mother’s Against Drunk Driving) event at NCSU’s Centennial Campus.  It wasn’t the prettiest day for a 5K – gloomy, cold, and windy.  I’m still thawing out as I type this.  But we had a nice time and Ashley did great.  It was quite a long walk for her to stay in her stroller, but between toys, a banana and cheerios, she made it the whole way.

One of Van’s clients, Monitech, was a sponsor of the event.  Monitech manufactures the ignition interlock systems that are put into cars of people that have been convicted of DWI.

There were people there that were family members of victims that had been injured or killed in drunk driving accidents.  They wore buttons with pictures of their loved ones, had t-shirts with names of their loved ones, and some held signs with their story.  It was really sad to see the impact that drunk driving has had on so many families.  I remember one name in particular because her name was Nikki.  We saw folks with Nikki’s name and dates of birth/death on their shirt.  It was 1987 – 2010.  I just cannot imagine losing a child to drunk driving.  And then I started thinking about that ballerina that was killed by a drunk driver in 2009.  The defendant, who was a doctor, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, felony death by motor vehicle and driving while impaired.  The judge only sentenced him for involuntary manslaughter because he could only be sentenced for one of the charges under the state’s law.  So he will spend 3 – 4.5 years in prison.  Isn’t that disheartening?  To think someone could get behind the wheel with a blood-alcohol content of .24 (3 times the legal limit), speed 90 miles an hour down a 45 mile-an-hour road, kill an innocent girl with a bright future, yet only get 3 to 4 years in prison.  Something has to be done!  It’s just so sad for all the families involved.

There were signs posted throughout the walk with statistics I found pretty interesting.  Some of them included:

In North Carolina in 2006, there were 1,559 traffic fatalities.  Of those, more than one-third (554) were alcohol-related.

Drunk driving is the nation’s most frequently committed violent crime, killing someone every 30 minutes.

In North Carolina in 2006, there were 482 alcohol-related traffic fatalities in which the driver had a BAC of .08 or higher.

It was a nice event and we got a great scenic tour of Centennial Campus.  I’m glad we were able to support such a wonderful cause.  Not to mention Van and I got lots of exercise!