Mothers Against Drunk Driving

According to MADD's website, "The mission of Mothers Against Drunk Driving is to end drunk driving, help fight drugged driving, support the victims of these violent crimes and prevent underage drinking."[8] Generally MADD favors strict policy in a variety of areas, including an illegal blood alcohol content of .08%[9] or lower and using stronger sanctions for DUI offenders, including mandatory jail sentences, treatment for alcoholism and other alcohol abuse issues, ignition interlock devices,[10] and license suspensions; maintaining the minimum legal drinking age at 21 years; mandating alcohol breath-testing ignition interlock devices (IIDs) for everyone convicted of driving while legally impaired.

MADD's founder Candace Lightner left the group in 1985. In the same year Stevie Wonder added the song "Don’t Drive Drunk" on the Woman in Red movie soundtrack that referenced MADD and summarised its policy positions.

In 2002, as reported by The Washington Times, Lightner stated that MADD "has become far more neo-prohibitionist than I had ever wanted or envisioned … I didn't start MADD to deal with alcohol. I started MADD to deal with the issue of drunk driving".[11]

Author Susan Cheever and the SAGE Encyclopedia of Social Problems have said MADD is a manifestation of the temperance movement.[12][13] MADD "supports a substantial increase in taxation on alcoholic beverages as a means of covering the cost to society caused by misuse of alcohol".[14] MADD "advocates that schools and other organizations hosting social and athletic gatherings for youth take positive steps to ensure that alcoholic beverages not be present at those gatherings".[14]

On May 3, 1980, Cari Lightner, a 13-year-old girl, was killed by a drunken hit-and-run driver at Sunset and New York Avenues in Fair Oaks, California. The 46-year-old driver, who had recently been arrested for another DUI hit-and-run, left Cari's body at the scene.[4] Cari's mother, Candace (Candy) Lightner, organized Mothers Against Drunk Driving and subsequently served as its founding president. A 1983 television movie about Lightner garnered publicity for the group, which grew rapidly.

Logo of MADD used from 2002-2009

In the early 1980s, the group attracted the attention of the United States Congress. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) did not like the fact that youth in New Jersey could easily travel to New York to purchase alcoholic beverages, circumventing New Jersey's law restricting consumption to those 21 years old and older.[15]

The group had its greatest success with the enacting of a 1984 federal law, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, that introduced a federal penalty (a 5%—later raised to 10%—loss of federal highway dollars), for states that did not raise the minimum legal age for the purchase and possession of alcohol to 21. After the United States Supreme Court upheld the law in the 1987 case of South Dakota v. Dole, every state and the District of Columbia made the necessary adjustments by 1988 (but not the territories of Puerto Rico and Guam). However, in July 2010 Guam raised its drinking age to 21.[16]

In 1985, Lightner objected to the shifting focus of MADD, and left her position with the organization.

In 1988, a drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 in Kentucky caused a head-on collision with a school bus. Twenty-seven people died and dozens more were injured in the ensuing fire. Known as the Carrollton bus disaster, it equaled another bus crash in Kentucky in 1958 as the deadliest bus crash in US history. In the aftermath, several parents of the victims became actively involved in MADD and one became its national president.

In 1989, MADD Canada was founded.[17]

In 1994, The Chronicle of Philanthropy released the results of the largest study of charitable and non-profit organization popularity and credibility. The study showed that MADD was ranked as the "most popular charity/non-profit in America of over 100 charities researched with 51% of Americans over the age of 12 choosing 'Love' and 'Like A Lot' for MADD".[18]

MADD released its first "Rating the States" report, grading the states in their progress against drunk driving, in 1991. "Rating the States" has been released four times since then.

In 1999, MADD's National Board of Directors unanimously voted to change the organization's mission statement to include the prevention of underage drinking.[19]

In 2002, MADD announced its "Eight-Point Plan". This consisted of:

1. Resuscitating the nation's efforts to prevent impaired driving.
2. Increasing driving while intoxicated (DWI)/driving under the influence (DUI) enforcement, especially the use of frequent, highly publicized sobriety checkpoints.
3. Enacting primary enforcement seat belt laws in all states.
4. Creating tougher, more comprehensive sanctions geared toward higher-risk drivers.
5. Developing a dedicated National Traffic Safety Fund.
6. Reducing underage drinking.
7. Increasing beer excise taxes to the same level as those for spirits.
8. Reinvigorating court monitoring programs.[20]

In a November 2006 press release, MADD launched its 'Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving': this is a four-point plan to completely eliminate drunk driving in the United States using a combination of current technology (such as alcohol ignition interlock devices), new technology in smart cars, law enforcement, and grass roots activism.[21]

MADD's national president was Millie I. Webb in 2002.[20] Chuck Hurley became MADD CEO in 2005.[22] He retired in June 2010 and was replaced by Kimberly Earle, who had been CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure since 2007.[23] Earle left to become the president of a new foundation of Sanford Health in January 2012, the Edith Sanford Breast Cancer Foundation.[24] Debbie Weir replaced her as MADD's CEO.

In 2019 MADD Brazil was founded.

According to Obama-Coburn Federal Funding Accountability Transparency Act of 2006, MADD received $56,814 in funds from the federal government in fiscal year 2000, and a total of $9,593,455 between fiscal years 2001 and 2006.[25]

In 1994, Money magazine reported that telemarketers raised over $38 million for MADD, keeping nearly half of it in fees. This relationship continues to date.[26]

In 2001, Worth magazine listed MADD as one of its "100 best charities".[27]

In 2005, USA Today reported that the American Institute of Philanthropy was reducing MADD from a "C" to a "D" in its ratings. The Institute noted that MADD categorizes much of its fundraising expenses as "educational expenses", and that up to 58% of its revenue was expended on what the Institute considered fundraising and management.[28]

Charity Navigator rated MADD at 63.53 out of 100 on its financial rating scale and 96.00 out of 100 on its accountability and transparency scale for its 2013 fiscal year.[29] MADD reported that it spent 24.4% of its total expenses on fundraising that year.[29]

In 2014 MADD spent over $9 million on fundraising activities according to its 2014 tax return.[30]

MADD SmartWheels bus in Toronto, Canada.

Radley Balko, an advocate for decriminalizing drunk driving,[31] argued in a December 2002 article that MADD's policies were becoming overbearing. "In fairness, MADD deserves credit for raising awareness of the dangers of driving while intoxicated. It was almost certainly MADD's dogged efforts to spark public debate that effected the drop in fatalities since 1980, when Candy Lightner founded the group after her daughter was killed by a drunk driver," Balko wrote. "But MADD is at heart a bureaucracy, a big one. It boasts an annual budget of $45 million, $12 million of which pays for salaries, pensions and benefits. Bureaucracies don't change easily, even when the problems they were created to address change."[32] Charity Watch gives MADD a "C-" grade.[33]

• Alcohol-related traffic crashes in the United States
• Amethyst Initiative
• Choose Responsibility
• Driving under the influence
• Drunk driving in the United States
• Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility
• Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere
• Woman's Christian Temperance Union