Local MADD Chapter Active as DUI Fatalities Rise Nationally

Reidel Post is worried as she watches the national numbers.

For the first time in recent years, drunk-driving deaths across the nation are rising. And Post, the executive director of the Orange County branch of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is hoping the trend doesn’t reach Orange County, where the campaign against handling a vehicle while under the influence has been gaining ground.

“Drunk-driving deaths in Orange County have been cut in half since 1990,” said Post, herself a survivor of a crash caused by a passed-out drunk driver. “But I also have some concerns about the numbers increasing.”

Nationally, fatalities linked to drunk driving totaled 17,274 in 1995, up from 16,580 in 1994. In California and Orange County, however, fatalities dropped, a trend that Post and others hope will hold.

It will be several months before Post finds out for sure, when countywide law enforcement records are compiled. Until then, MADD relies on learning about drunk-driving fatalities and injuries when people call Post’s office looking for help, or from newspaper clippings and individual police officers.

Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Tom Garner said no drunk-driving deaths have been reported as of November this year in the department’s patrol area, compared to two fatalities last year.

“It’s too early to tell for sure, but it looks like [fatalities] will be lower this year,” Garner said.

Throughout Orange County, 53 people died in drunk-driving cases last year, down from 89 deaths in 1991.

But Post and others say they cannot ignore the national figures, which some have attributed to a public growing immune to the group’s message against driving while under the influence of alcohol.

In 1997, MADD officials must find new ways to shock the public about the problem, even as it competes with other campaigns, such as those against gang involvement and drug use, officials said.

“There are lots of worthy causes that merit involvement,” Post said. “But the community needs to be reminded that drunk-driving problems still exist. It hasn’t gone away. It’s still a significant problem.”

One of the biggest challenges is convincing young people not to drink and drive.

This year, MADD took a hiatus from its traditional education programs aimed at keeping prom-going teens from drinking and driving or accepting a ride from anyone who does, Post said.

Next year, a new program to be introduced at the end of the school year will be based on one of the worst drunk-driving tragedies in county history, she said.

James Virgil Patterson of Anaheim used fake identification in July 1995 to buy alcohol for an overnight camping trip with friends. The 17-year-old later crashed his Chevrolet Suburban while driving in the Mojave Desert with a blood-alcohol level of 0.17%--more than twice the legal limit.

Four teens were killed and three seriously injured. Patterson was convicted and sentenced to jail and an alcohol rehabilitation program.

Called “blackout,” the program is expected to be put on by drama students, Post said.

“It will not be a finger-pointing program,” Post said, but one that hopes to vividly illustrate the deadly dangers of drinking and driving.

Another MADD campaign underway offers a customized bumper sticker designed to startle and inform: “My Son Was Killed by a Drunk Driver” is one of several available.

Orange County Superior Court Judge David O. Carter said the local MADD chapter does an outstanding job of finding new ways to alert the public.

“They are a consistent and vocal victims rights group,” Carter said. “They go on and on and on, and it’s that consistency, that strength that allows them to carry tremendous clout.”

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Drunk-Driving Deaths

Drunk-driving deaths nationwide increased in 1995, while the numbers in both Orange County and California decreased:

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Orange Year County California U.S. 1991 89 2,048 19,887 1992 72 1,832 17,858 1993 76 1,569 17,473 1994 55 1,488 16,580 1995* 53 1,343 17,274

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* Most recent data available

Source: California Highway Patrol and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; Researched by APRIL JACKSON / Los Angeles Times