Mothers against drunk driving essay

Candace Lynne Lightner, also known as Candy Lightner, is famous as being the owner of Moms Against Driving under the influence (MADD) (Overbey, 2006). Previously being born back in 1946 in Pasadena, California, Candace managed to graduate from high school graduation and proceeded to enroll in American Riv College in Sacramento exactly where she also graduated (Lerner, 2011). She later on married Steve Lightner and went on to have three kids. When her daughter was an infant, Lightner’s car was involved in an incident where it was rammed in to from at the rear of by a drunken driver.

Thankfully, Serena, the daughter, endured minor accidents. However , 6 years down the road, Lighter’s kid, Travis, was run over and seriously wounded where he endured numerous broken bones along the way (Levinson, 2002). He entered a coma but sadly received long lasting brain destruction. Travis was run over by simply an unlicensed driver who was impaired simply by tranquilizers while driving and what is perhaps most stunning is the fact the driver did not receive a single ticket following a accident (Overbey, 2006).

Debate

Looking at the history of Lightner, one may possibly say that good luck was not on her side specifically where her children had been concerned because of the numerous wrong doings they were encountering. As if that was not enough, Lighter’s 13 year old little girl, Cari, was one day in 1980 strolling in her neighborhood in Fair Oaks on her method to cathedral for a carnival (Lerner, 2011). She was suddenly hit from behind by a drunken driver who apparently briefly passed away then awoke and went off after having killed Cari (Levinson, 2002). Her body had been thrown several feet and was so badly damaged that not even her organs could be given up for donation. About conducting an investigation on the new driver, it was says the culprit was a duplicate DWI who had been released upon bail to get a hit and run drunken driving crash merely two days before killing Cari (Overbey, 2006). It was also his 5thoffense in a span of 4 years.

4 days following the tragedy and even though in mourning for her child a day after her burial, Lightner began the Mothers Against Driving under the influence in her den. Lightner had as well just received reports from the law enforcement officials that the person who fully commited the crime would not possibly spend time in jail which brought about a lot rage inside her, leading her to determine MADD (Lerner, 2011). The key aim or perhaps purpose of starting this particular corporation was to have the ability to bring about open public awareness of the nature of drunken driving in addition to promoting hard legislation from this particular crime (Levinson, 2002). The key issue that triggered the creation of MADD was drunken driving, problems that was also identified as being a cultural problem. As being a response to her experience, Lightner formed MADD so as to support victims of crimes completed by people driving drunk of drugs or perhaps alcohol, to improve public consciousness on the issue and to ensure that the families of these kinds of victims (Overbey, 2006).

Just before Lightner’s crusade, intoxication had not been taken seriously plus some comedians actually went to the extent of getting a career of impersonating drunken individuals on stage. Her perceptive approach was to put individual faces on the victims of drunk individuals where figures were more a collection of figures (Lerner, 2011). Lightner helped individuals come to the realization that fatalities caused by drunk driving were in fact not an inevitability that could be accepted. The reasoning as well as psychological impact mixed up in MADD resulted to a remarkable transformation in relation to public perceptions toward drunken driving that has been now known as being socially unacceptable (Levinson, 2002). A couple of policies had been created because of MADD’s effect even though a large number of problems were also experienced while implementing the policies. Chocolate Lightner’s attempts pushed President Reagan to appoint a BRCDD, normally known as the Green Ribbon Commission on Consumed and Heavy Driving back in 1982 which usually saw over 400 driving under the influence laws getting enacted all over the United States (Overbey, 2006).

For the duration of the same yr, Congress also passed legal guidelines that rewarded states that managed to enhance their least officially permitted consuming age to 21 years. However , a majority of states decided to maintain the age limits that were there earlier deemed more suitable, and this created a issue for MADD’s mission (Lerner, 2011). Lightner campaigned to get legislation that would financially penalize those declares that would resistWashington’s de facto demand where she also located herself having to counter arguments that the evaluate singled out in relation to legal adults age 18, 19 and 20 years (Levinson, 2002). Additionally , MADD started outgrowing it is mission and with time altered the definition with the problem to add the fair adults who also respond to MADD’s campaigns (Overbey, 2006). Rather than concentrating more on replicate offenders and those who are considered too intoxicated to drive, today’s MADD is targeted on higher refreshment taxes and unnecessary low drunk driving detain thresholds (Lerner, 2011).

Realization

When Sweets Lightner began Mothers Againnmn n nst Drunk Driving, her main quest was to stop drunk driving, give support towards the victims of such crime and prevent underage drinking. Nevertheless , as time went by, MADD’s mission outgrew itself for the reason that instead of targeting drunk driving, this started targeting drinking generally speaking. This switch forced Lightner to leave the organization that she herself created since she felt that it was trying to minimize her role as the creator. In addition , MADD completely ignored the real inebriated drivers who also are the reason behind a majority of deaths on the highways and instead paid more focus on social consumers by trying to achieve large PR scare campaigns.

References

Lerner, B. They would. (2011). A single for the Road: Drunk Driving Since 1900. Baltimore: JHU Press. Levinson, M. H. (2002). The Medication Problem: A fresh View Using the General Semantics Approach. Westport: Praeger. Overbey, C. (2006). Drinking and Driving War in America. Johannesburg: Lulu. com.

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