Countywide : MADD Has Reason to Be Happy

Alcohol-related traffic deaths in Orange County decreased by nearly half over a five-year period, and the combination of drunk-driving fatalities and injuries dropped by nearly a third during the same period, according to California Highway Patrol statistics.

The data, released Wednesday as part of opening celebrations for the new county headquarters of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, showed that from 1987--the county’s peak year of drunk-driving casualties--to 1991, there was a 46% decrease in deaths and a 31% decrease in injuries. Drunk-driving injuries in the county dropped 13% in 1991 from the previous year, with a 17% decrease in deaths.

Carolyn Charkey, board president of the county chapter of MADD, attributed the decline to the continued cooperation of local law enforcement, the judiciary, educational institutions and the efforts of other support groups.

“I think Orange County is such a success because of the educational and public information programs we have and the cooperation we receive throughout the county,” she said.

In addition to high school programs instructing teens on how to have fun without alcohol, Charkey said she believes MADD’s victim panels are one of the group’s most effective tools.

Victims panels are composed of people who have lost a family member to drunk driving, or people who have been injured in alcohol-related accidents.

“Some Orange County judges are making offenders attend one of our victims panels as part of their sentence. I think it’s effective in keeping them from drunk driving again because it puts an emotional impact on their actions,” Charkey said. “Sometimes we’ll have a panelist who is an offender and they can tell the impact of drunk driving on their own life.”

Another important MADD project is developing educational programs for the Latino community, Charkey added.

“We feel we haven’t gotten the word out into that community and we’re working on programs to change that,” she said.

Drunk-Driving Casualties Decline The number of Orange County alcohol-related injuries and fatalities collectively has dropped by about one-third since 1987, with deaths alone down by nearly half. Numbers of deaths 1987: 166 ‘88: 134 ‘89: 122 ‘90: 108 ‘91: 89 Number of injuries 1987: 5,815 ‘88: 5,353 ‘89: 4,848 ‘90: 4,605 ‘91:: 3,993 Source: California Highway Patrol