State Curbs Drunk Driving-Related Deaths : Safety: The drop in O.C. fatalities is even more dramatic when the increase in the number of drivers is considered.

Drunk driving-related tragedies have victimized Joey Hunnicut’s family for generations, changing lives in immeasurable ways.

In 1949, her grandfather was killed by a drunk driver as he walked to the neighborhood market. About 10 years ago, Hunnicut’s sister-in-law was killed by a drunk driver as she rode her bike along a winding road. In 1984, Hunnicut was struck by a hit-and-run drunk driver, and was forced to retire from her job as a police officer because of her injuries.

“It’s kind of a lousy tradition,” said Hunnicut, 31, president of the Alameda County chapter of Remove Intoxicated Drivers, the oldest anti-drunk driving organization in the country. “Hopefully, we won’t continue this family tradition.”

Hunnicut has reason to be hopeful. In a time when other incidents of violence in California seem to defy solution, at least one battle--the one against drinking and driving--is slowly being won. The number of drunk driving-related fatalities in the state has fallen over the last decade, with steady decreases in the last five years: In 1987, 2,754 people were killed as a result of drunk driving, contrasted with 1,832 in 1992--a 33.5% drop. In Los Angeles County, drunk driving fatalities fell from 542 in 1990 to 367 in 1992, according to the California Highway Patrol.

In Orange County, drunk driving fatalities fell from 95 in 1990 to 69 in 1992.

The drop is even more dramatic when the rise in the driving population is considered. Since 1982, the number of California licenses has increased about 23%, from 16.3 million to 20.1 million in 1992.

Government experts and grass-roots activists cite tougher drunk driving and safety laws, safer cars, and a change in attitudes toward drunk driving as the three most instrumental factors behind the decline.

Although drinking and driving continues to be a significant problem--especially among teen-agers and Latinos--the hard-won successes of recent years have surprised even some involved in the anti-drunk driving movement.

Authorities credit grass-roots organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving and RID for much of the progress that has been made. The groups have provided an outlet where people who have been victimized by drunk drivers can work to change attitudes about drunk driving and fight for tougher DUI laws.

“When I got involved in MADD, it was a way to channel the rage,” said Linda Oxenreider of Camarillo, whose 19-year-old son, Joshua, was killed along with two of his friends in 1989 by a drunk driver who had been arrested for driving under the influence the night before. “I want Josh’s death to count for something.”

Oxenreider, state secretary of MADD, makes sure of that by talking to drunk driving offenders about how it feels to lose a loved one.

The battle against drunk driving gained national attention in the early 1980s because of the efforts of Candy Lightner of Sacramento, who founded MADD after losing her daughter, Cari, to a drunk driver in 1980. Behind Lightner’s vocal leadership, MADD quickly became a formidable political force, successfully lobbying police departments for increased drunk driving enforcement and legislatures for tougher laws, while spreading the message from pubs to preschool classes all over America that drunk driving kills.

In 1981, largely because of MADD, Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. formed the California Commission on Drunk Driving to look at ways to combat the problem, and in 1982 President Ronald Reagan formed the Presidential Commission on Drunk Driving, enlisting Lightner.

The presidential commission released a report in 1983 that suggested, among other things, instant license suspensions and a lowering of legal blood-alcohol levels to 0.08%--both of which were adopted by California in 1990.

The lowering of the legally intoxicated limit, which had been 0.1%, and the immediate license suspension law have helped deter many people from driving drunk, said Paul Snodgrass of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a federal agency whose goal is to reduce the number of vehicle crashes.

Under the controversial immediate license suspension law, people arrested on drunk driving charges have their licenses suspended for at least four months, before their cases go to court--and the suspension sticks, regardless of whether they are convicted.

A traffic safety administration study found that immediate license suspension laws, which have been adopted by 29 states, are the best deterrent against drunk driving--more effective than mandatory jail sentences.

But many lawyers and civil libertarians denounce the law, arguing that it assumes people are guilty before giving them a chance to state their case in court.

“I’m not opposed to proper punishment after one is found guilty. What really bothers me is the police officer being the officer, judge and jury,” said Madelynn Kopple, a former Los Angeles public defender and a member of the board of governors of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice. “It’s scary to me, and it should be scary to everyone, that an officer can have that much power.”

In 1989, 111,703 drunk driving offenders had their licenses suspended in California. In 1990, the first year of the new law, 233,680 people in the state lost their licenses after being stopped for drunk driving, and in 1991, the number rose to 409,255, according the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The DMV has researched the effect of the two laws, also concluding that they are helping to curb drunk driving.

“There’s no real silver bullet that’s going to solve the problem, but these laws are having an effect,” DMV researcher Clifford J. Helander said.

The California Legislature has continued to pass tough laws against drunk driving. In addition to the immediate license suspension law, the state in January raised the penalty for misdemeanor drunk driving offenses to a maximum $1,000 fine and one year in jail.

In July, a state law took effect requiring twice-convicted drunk drivers to equip their cars with a breath analysis device that prevents them from starting their engines if they have a blood-alcohol level higher than 0.02%. And after Jan. 1, people under the legal drinking age of 21 caught driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.01% or greater will immediately lose their driver’s licenses for one year.

Experts also cite stricter safety laws and safer cars--especially those with air bags--as major contributors to the decline in drunk driving-related deaths.

Air bags will save an estimated 2,400 lives between 1990 and 1995, according to the traffic safety administration.

The state law permitting authorities to stop drivers strictly for not wearing a seat belt, which went into effect in January, has greatly reduced traffic deaths, officials say.

“The No. 1 reason (for the decrease in drunk driving-related deaths) is seat belts,” said CHP Officer Bob Whitmer of Stockton. “As we see the increase in use of seat belts, we see a decrease in all fatalities.”

The much-debated mandatory state helmet law, which began in January, 1992, has also helped reduce drunk driving deaths, said Snodgrass of the traffic safety agency.

Experts say another important, albeit intangible, reason for the drop in alcohol-related traffic fatalities is the public’s growing intolerance of drunk drivers.

“Thirty years ago, people would brag about going to a party, drinking a lot, and being able to drive home, but now we have seen a 180-degree change,” said Louis Anderson, chairman of the California Coalition Against DUI, which brings together groups as diverse as the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs and Beer Drinkers of America to fight drunk driving. “There is a whole stigma attached to it now.”

Efforts by MADD and government agencies to educate the public about alternatives to driving drunk have also had a positive effect.

In 1986, MADD introduced the concept of a designated driver, and many police departments and local groups throughout the state have adopted the idea. CHP officers visit local bars and ask them to offer free nonalcoholic drinks and beers to designated drivers.

Los Angeles Police Sgt. Roy Langheld, who has worked at sobriety checkpoints since they began in 1987, said he has recently noticed more designated drivers.

“I see a lot more people who are driving the car sober and have drunk passengers, which is what we want them to do,” he said.

Sobriety checkpoints, which target problem areas particularly during the holiday party season, send a message to the community that police are serious about keeping drunk drivers off the road--but they also can place officers in danger. Traffic Officer Jeffrey Williams suffered six broken ribs and a punctured lung Nov. 28 when a drunk driver hit him while speeding through a San Fernando Valley sobriety checkpoint at 60 m.p.h., made a U-turn and ran him over.

Although progress has been made in the battle against drinking and driving, it continues to be the No. 1 killer of young people in the nation. Almost 20% of all deaths of people between the ages of 15 and 20 resulted from alcohol-related car crashes, according to the California Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs.

Hunnicut of RID travels to Alameda County high schools with Stephanie Morales, 20, of Fremont, who tells teen-agers her tragic story of how she killed her best friend in a 1990 car crash after drinking only two beers.

“She is the only thing that kids will listen to,” Hunnicut said. “They seem to relate to her.”

Despite the promising statistics, Hunnicut remains unsatisfied with the progress that has been made in reducing drunk driving deaths.

“I have seen improvement, but until the number is down to zero it is unacceptable to me.”