The specific mission of the national Crime Victims’ Rights Week this year is to Expand the Circle, and reach all victims.
A victim of drunk driving is someone whose life is cut short because of it:
- someone who is killed by a drunk or drugged driver
- someone who is left to mourn that loss
- someone who survives a crash but is impacted for life—physically, emotionally, or mentally
- or someone who suddenly becomes a caretaker instead of just a parent, sibling, partner, child or friend.
A victim is anyone whose life is forever changed due to another person’s decision to drive while impaired.
In honor of CVRW and in service of these victims, MADD is reaching out to expand the conversation. MADD has a new PSA/video that we will be releasing next week that focuses on injured victims.
The goal of the ad is to bring attention to those victims not killed by drunk driving, in order to broaden people’s understanding of the true scope of the devastation of this 100% preventable crime. It does this by telling the story of Phillip. Phillip was hit by a drunk driver, suffering a traumatic brain injury that has left him unable to speak, swallow, walk or talk.
We are coordinating the launch this new PSA with National Crime Victim’s Rights week, which is April 8-14. The national theme for Crime Victim’s Rights Week this year is Expand the Circle: Reach All Victims. Although MADD serves thousands of victims each year, we know that we are only reaching a small percentage of those who have been injured in crashes or who have had a loved one killed, often because they don’t know we have victim services.
Our hope is to get as many victims as we can to share their own stories using “#MyDrunkDrivingStory” on social so we can help spread this important message far and wide during this key week focused on victim’s rights.
