The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that nearly one-quarter of all child passenger deaths between 1997 and 2002 involved alcohol.  Translated, that means that 2,335 children died at the hands of alcohol-impaired drivers.  Seven out of ten times, these children were riding with the alcohol-impaired driver.  For all child passenger deaths, including those not involving impaired drivers, child passenger restraint use decreased as both the child's age and the BAC of the child's driver increased.  Of 1,451 child passengers with known restraint information who died while riding with drinking drivers, only 466 were restrained at the time of the crash.

"Every Child Deserves a Designated Driver"

"Every Child Deserves a Designated Driver" is a report that was created as a result of a collaboration between a panel of traffic safety and policy experts, law enforcement and legal officials, and victim advocates.  The report was created for state law enforcement agencies, Governors' Highway Safety Offices, court personnel and child protective agencies.  The steps outlined in the MADD report on child endangerment will give lawmakers, judges and child advocates the tools to help protect children from being transported by alcohol-impaired drivers.

Among the report's recommendations:

• The establishment of 16 as a uniform age to define a "child".
• The definition of DUI/DWI Child Endangerment as child abuse, requiring investigation by the proper state child protective agency.
• Higher penalties for DUI/DWI Child Endangerment offenders, including license revocation/suspension; mandatory alcohol/drug assessment and treatment; installation of alcohol ignition interlock devices; and the establishment of a second offense as a felony.
• The establishment of a more stringent illegal blood alcohol level for second offenders - .05 instead of .08 percent.
• A condition that no child under 16 will be transported by a defendant charged with DUI/DWI child endangerment offenses without an ignition interlock device.
• A mandatory clause in every child custody and visitation decree that prohibits parents from drinking and driving with children in the vehicle.  If violated, the clause would carry penalties up to termination of parental rights and/or incarceration.

"Just as if you took your fist and hit a child, driving impaired while a child is in the car is child abuse."  ~ Debbie Weir, MADD's national director of victim services.

~Taken from "Children Without A Choice", DRIVEN magazine, Spring 2004