Rebecca (Beckie) Brown, 1940-2012
Since 1982, when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration first published national estimates, the number of traffic deaths involving alcohol have declined from 26,172 to 14,188 (62% per 1 00,000 population), a much greater reduction than occurred among traffic deaths where alcohol was not present, only 16%. The greatest alcohol-related traffic death decline occurred among 16-20 year olds: down from 5,244 to 1,527 (77% per 100,000 population), whereas non-alcohol-related traffic deaths declined 25%. It has been estimated that over 300,000 deaths have been prevented as a result of reductions in alcohol-impaired driving, more than the reduction attributed to increases in the use of safety belts, airbags, motorcycle and bicycle helmets combined, a remarkable public health accomplishment.
While many people worked tirelessly to help bring these changes, the grassroots citizen activist group Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) was pivotal. Founded in 1980, MADD grew to become an influential powerhouse with chapters in every state, stimulating passage of over 2,000 laws to reduce drunk driving. One of its founding and most effective leaders, Rebecca (Beckie) Brown passed away on November 6, 2012 in New Port Richey, Florida.
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| Marcus Brown |
Beckie was a tireless advocate for MADD. She became involved when her son, Marcus Daniel Brown, died at age 18 on December 9, 1979, from injuries suffered in a traffic crash involving a 19-year old drunk driver. Channeling her grief into action, Beckie established the first MADD chapter in Northern Florida, helped organize Florida's statewide chapter, and participated in MADD's first national conference. Beckie was instrumental in passing legislation to raise the minimum legal drinking age to 21 in Florida. The U.S. Congress passed legislation to simulate other states to do so, and by 1988, the minimum legal drinking age was 21 in every state. Beckie served as MADD's national president from 1993 to 1995. In 1995, the U.S. Congress passed legislation that would withhold federal highway construction funds from states that did not pass legislation making it illegal for persons under age 21 to drive with any measurable level of alcohol in their body----in effect zero tolerance legislation, Beckie’s personal and MADD’s national goal.
The minimum legal drinking age of 21 and zero tolerance laws are now present in all 50 states and DC and together are saving over 700 lives each year. The minimum legal drinking age of 21 has been credited by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration with the prevention of over 28,000 traffic deaths since 1975. Recent scientific publications also linked that law with reduced overall per capital alcohol consumption and lower percentages of adults who ever meet diagnostic criteria for alcohol dependence and abuse.
In addition to those remarkable accomplishments, Beckie contributed to MADD in other fundamental ways. She helped to structure the committee system (victim services, public policy program, finance, etc.) of MADD's National Board of Directors and she stimulated National Board Commissions on youth and college drinking. Beckie helped to elevate public policy as a top MADD priority. She initiated MADD's Rating the States Report Cards that periodically gave grades to each state and the nation based on objective data concerning alcohol-related traffic death trends, legislation passed in each state to reduce the problem, law enforcement efforts, quality of traffic statistics and attention to victims' issues. Those report cards galvanized MADD chapter efforts and heightened political pressure on law makers nationwide to implement policies and programs to reduce drunk driving.
In 1988, Beckie represented MADD as the Public Policy Committee Chairperson at the Surgeon General C. Everett Koop's Workshop on Drunk Driving. As a result, she instituted MADD Workshops around the country, educating local officials on the laws and strategies that were working to reduce impaired driving.
Beckie helped to bring scientific research to influence MADD's policy agenda. She recruited nationally recognized research scientists to participate in MADD's national board of directors and helped to convene a national conference in 1995 of scientists and law enforcement officials and MADD advocates that set a goal of reducing drunk driving deaths 20% by 2000. That goal was achieved just two years later, in 1997, a decade after the first Surgeon General's report on Drunk Driving challenged the Nation to take action. This work, integrating science into the MADD advocacy effort, was recognized by the International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety through the presentation of the prestigious Haddon Organizational Award to MADD.
Beckie prioritized alcohol and youth issues and stimulated national youth summits where one young person from each congressional district in the United States was invited to Washington for a three-day briefing from the nation's leading experts on policies and programs to reduce drunk driving and underage drinking. They then were charged with developing and holding a national press conference to announce their strategic plan to reduce drinking and driving and underage drinking.
In October 2000, MADD youth summit delegates announced their strategic plan on the West steps of the U.S. Capitol, the same day the U.S. Congress voted to withhold highway construction funds from states that did not lower the legal blood alcohol limits from 0.10% to 0.08%. Youth delegates met that day personally with 290 legislators. Because of their crucial importance in the passage of that law, President Clinton invited the Maryland Youth Summit delegation to join him at the White House ceremony for the signing of the 0.08% legislation. That law is now in place in every state.
Beckie was a prime example of the effective advocate who can bring together researchers, policy makers and the public to produce change. She was an inspiration to us all. We were hardly prepared for her exuberance and energy. She endeared many of us to work harder to provide her with the data and information she needed to transform the MADD organization. While many of us “talked the talk”, Beckie “walked the walk.” She will never be forgotten.
Beckie was a tireless champion for MADD who believed that the power of everyday people combined with some "magic" would move the "wall" of public tolerance and indifference about drinking and driving. She helped to put “faces on the numbers” and make drunk driving socially unacceptable in the U.S. Her legacy is a safer America for all people, but especially our nation's youth.
Ralph Hingson, Sc.D., M.P.H.
James C. Fell, M.S.
Robert B. Voas, Ph.D.
John V. Moulden, M.S.
Former Members, MADD National Board of Directors
