Reduction in Drunk Driving Fatalities Is No Accident

One of my colleagues had the misfortune of being entangled in a four-car pileup last week. Another co-worker got her car mangled a few weeks ago in another road mishap. A couple of days ago one of our Boy Scout parents got whopped good from behind as he idled at a stoplight.

You probably know someone too, a neighbor or friend, who’s been involved in a vehicular accident the past year. Orange County is teeming with vehicles, and we’re banging the daylights out of each other on our busy streets.

A few months ago my wife and I were car-pooling to work, sitting at a stoplight on Euclid Avenue at 1st Street in Santa Ana. We heard the most awful crunch of metal behind us, then a second later another crunch--this one ours as we were slammed from behind, and into the car in front of us (another crunch). The pickup truck driver who started it all somehow never saw that the three cars ahead of him were stopped for a red light. He didn’t stick around to exchange phone numbers. He split, leaving his truck behind for someone else to worry about. Police say there was an open alcohol container in his truck, and that his passenger, whose head shattered the windshield, reeked of alcohol.

My wife and I looked at each other and said almost at the same time: Thank goodness our daughter wasn’t in the car. We had just dropped her off at her preschool.

All the people I’ve mentioned were fortunate that nothing more serious occurred. But a lot of others aren’t so lucky. And most times, drinking is involved. Mothers Against Drunk Driving reports that 2,855 people were injured--and another 55 killed--by drunk drivers in Orange County in 1994 (latest statistics available).

That’s actually good news, says Reidel Post, MADD’s county executive director. Local drunk driving deaths were at 166 in 1987, and the injury total that year was twice as high as in 1994. “But that doesn’t mean much,” she says, “if someone in your family was one of those 55 or one of the 2,855.”

This Saturday, MADD is having its annual education carnival at Craig Regional Park in Fullerton (near the Brea Mall). There’ll be games and police dogs and squad cars that youngsters can explore.

“We try to make it a family day,” Post says. “Sometimes the best way to reach the parents is to show how drinking and driving can affect families.”

Triple Threat? Opening Day at Anaheim Stadium is where you’re supposed to slip off from work for a couple of hours and eat hot dogs in the sun, catching as many innings as you can before your beeper goes off.

OK, so the Angels play a night opener this year. I’ll take it. The California Angels host the Milwaukee Brewers at 7:35 p.m.

The cover of the first issue of the Angels’ Halo magazine shows smiling outfielders Jim Edmonds, Garret Anderson and Tim Salmon, calling them “the Triple Threat.” The magazine also includes a piece written by Edmonds, who grew up in nearby Diamond Bar.

“As a kid, I recall fond memories of going to the Big A,” he states. “My friends and I always tried to arrive as early as possible. We’d soak up the atmosphere, watching batting practice and try to catch a ball.”

A new generation of youngsters will be doing the same tonight.

Homeward Bound: Tonight’s Angels opener is the start of a five-game homestand, which includes a fireworks show for the Chicago White Sox game Friday night. Final home game: Sept. 25 against new Angels archenemy Seattle Mariners. The Angels play three 10-game homestands this year, starting May 3, July 18 and Aug. 26. And as long as you’re marking your calendars, here are the dates for the three weekday afternoon games: June 19 (Chicago), Aug. 8 (Minnesota) and Sept. 25 (Seattle).

It’s a Happening: Sarma and Lawrence Rosenberg moved from Los Angeles to San Clemente a few years ago to start a dance academy. She says: “Many people tried to dissuade us, saying there’s really nothing happening in the arts world out here, and we just didn’t buy into that. Since then we’ve seen artists come through here and grow up here and we’re excited and proud.” Many of their students have gone on to larger troupes.

But they’re most proud of their current group. The Rosenbergs’ Coast Ballet Theatre premieres its own “Rwanda Remembered” Wednesday night at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

Wrap-Up: Irvine police veteran Robert Landman has two uniforms--the one he wears to work, which is blue, and the one he wears to entertain youngsters, which is mostly black with a mask and a cape. Landman plays Soberman for Mothers Against Drunk Driving events. (He’s on MADD’s county board.) It’s a character from MADD’s comic books. Soberman will be the feature attraction at the Craig Park outing Saturday.

“The kids really respond to it,” he says.

Landman’s motivation: He arrests a lot of drunk drivers. “It takes just a couple of drinks for your driving to be impaired,” Landman says.

MADD’s executive director Post says Landman is great with the youngsters. “At one event, we heard a young child say to his mother, ‘Now there is a real superhero.’ It doesn’t get any better than that for us.”

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or sending a fax to (714) 966-7711.