MADD SOUTH CAROLINA - 2021 CM Report

Introduction

Year after year, South Carolina appears at the bottom of national rankings for drunk driving. Our 2020 MADD South Carolina Court Monitoring Report was titled Refusal to Change in part to acknowledge the long- standing tragic data and our state’s seeming acceptance considering that we make no major changes to how we address DUI. According to data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in early 2022, alcohol-related deaths spiked 14% from 2019 to 2020. South Carolina also had a 14% increase in alcohol-related deaths, rising from 276 fatalities in 2019 to 315 in 2020, despite a 7% decrease in miles driven. This once again put us as 10th highest in drunk driving fatalities and fourth highest on a population rate basis. Sadly, in 2021 South Carolina had more overall traffic fatalities than any year in our history. Deadly Results . The title of this report has to reflect the seriousness of the situation and the connections that cannot be ignored between how South Carolina handles all DUI arrests and our tragic fatality numbers. When we do not care about holding people accountable after each and every DUI arrest, they often become repeat offenders causing devastation and grief that could have been prevented. Year after year passes with our state operating under the same problematic and out-of-date DUI statutes while other states demonstrate the life-saving impact of DUI reform. This is in spite of some outstanding efforts among many law enforcement and prosecution agencies, though we ask every stakeholder to do even more. Drunk driving is a serious crime. At MADD, we come to know many of the families impacted by this crime, and our hearts break with them. We can support them, advocate for them, help them find their voice, and honor their loved ones, but we can never fix the heartache. These crashes are sudden, violent, and tragic, and they cannot be undone. Yet, they are also 100% preventable. The message of the seriousness of drunk and drugged driving crashes will get lost without strict and consistent outcomes in the court system. We ask, and some days we scream: if the stories of real people and shocking numbers we have in front of us today, including the troubling convictions rate contained in this report, do not move us to change, will we ever find the motivation to save these precious lives lost needlessly year after year? Let’s get MADD and do something, South Carolina.

The Case for Court Monitoring

Court monitoring is a proven tool to affect the adjudication process and is recognized by NHTSA as an effective countermeasure to reduce alcohol impaired driving (Countermeasures That Work, NHTSA, 6th edition, March 2011). A NHTSA commission study found that in cases where court monitors were present, conviction rates for DWI/DUI offenders were 10% higher and case dismissal rates were 70% lower (Impact

6

Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online