APPENDIX B: FINAL WORK PLAN MADD/NHTSA COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT NATIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT IMPAIRED DRIVING SUMMIT COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT # DTNH2215H00478/0006 May 22, 2018
Since its founding in 1980, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has been instrumental in helping reduce drunk driving incidents by over 50 percent. However, alcohol‐related traffic crashes are still the biggest contributor of traffic deaths accounting for over 10,000 deaths every year on our nation’s roadways. In 2015 and 2016, significant increases occurred in these deaths and the numbers are currently trending in the wrong direction. Drug‐impaired driving is an emerging public safety threat. Lack of documented crash data leaves the exact severity of this problem unknown. In 2015, MADD added drugged driving to its mission statement and developed a task force to address this emerging problem. Law enforcement represents the front line in reducing almost all types of traffic deaths. Because deaths are up across the country, it is imperative that the law enforcement community has support and has the tools it needs in order to keep our roads and communities safe. The general public and some in the law enforcement community, have become complacent to this public safety threat. In 2016, 10,497 people lost their lives on our nation’s roadways due to drunk driving. This was a 1.7 percent increase from the 10,320 lives lost in 2015. This comes after a 3.6 increase in the 2015 alcohol related fatality numbers. 28 percent of the 37,461 people killed in traffic crashes in 2016 were alcohol‐related with a driver’s BAC at .08 or higher. Impaired driving is a 100 percent preventable crime. As previously stated, drug‐impaired driving is an emerging threat and its exact severity is unknown. The opioid overdose crisis, the abuse of prescription drugs and the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana are all emerging as public safety threats across the country, especially on our nation’s roadways. The safety community needs to understand what new strategies law enforcement need in order to better address this issue. The public and law enforcement community need to be reinvigorated and develop new strategies to fight all aspects of the impaired driving threat. Under this Cooperative Agreement Project, MADD will bring together law enforcement executives from across the country to highlight and address the impaired driving problem. MADD will convene a 2½ day National Law Enforcement Impaired Driving Summit in the Washington DC area in the fall of 2018. Cooperative Agreement Project funding will allow for 75 law enforcement executives and 10 MADD Staff to participate. MADD will work with NHTSA to develop an attendee list, agenda and speakers. Subject matter experts will be brought in to address all areas of the impaired driving problem. During the summit, roundtable time will be made available to address new strategies to help MADD better assist law enforcement in addressing the continued problem of drunk driving and the emerging problem of drugged driving. Also, new strategies and implementation plans for law enforcement to reestablish strong enforcement and education programs to address impaired driving will be developed. These strategies and plans will be documented in a final report and will be disseminated to the law enforcement community for a renewed effort and mission to fight impaired driving and to increase strong traffic safety enforcement efforts and programs.
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