Nationwide, 10,000 people are killed by people operating vehicles while intoxicated. Another 290,000 people are injured in impaired-driving crashes. On Dec. 3, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is holding a National Day of Remembrance to honor the injured and the dead left in the wake of these preventable incidents.
Across the country, MADD will host these first-ever events to remember and celebrate the victims and survivors of drunk/drugged driving crashes and underage drinking.
Almost three decades ago, the deadliest drunk-driving crash and second deadliest bus disaster occurred in Carrollton, Kentucky, when Larry Wayne Mahoney, who was heavily inebriated, drove his pickup truck down the wrong side of Interstate 71 and slammed into a school bus that had been repurposed by a church, which was transporting children and adult chaperones home from a local amusement park.
The nighttime head-on collision immediately ignited the gasoline-powered bus, engulfing it in flames and resulting in the deaths of 27 passengers. Another 34 people were injured. Only six passengers out of the 67 aboard emerged unscathed.
As a result of the May 14, 1988, tragedy, a number of family members of those killed became active members of MADD and one eventually became the national president of the organization.
MADD was founded 1980 by Candace Lightner after her 13-year-old daughter was killed by a drunken hit-and-run driver who had been previously arrested for another DUI.
In 2013, 867 people died from drunk driving crashes in California, which represents 29 percent of all traffic fatalities.
A moment of silence and a press conference will be held at the Toyota USA Automobile Museum in Torrance, California, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 3.
