Michael Rice had a green light when he passed through the intersection at E. 19th Avenue and Agate Street. But that didn’t matter to the drunk driver who crashed into his car while running a red light. Rice was killed in 1986 — one of the 24,045 Americans who died that year in alcohol-related crashes.
Members of Lane County’s Mothers Against Drunk Driving met Saturday to remember Rice and others like him, and to kick off the group’s annual “Tie One on for Safety” campaign. The chapter gave out ribbons, water bottles and bumper stickers; it hopes to distribute 100,000 red ribbons in Lane County this year as a way of reminding people not to drink and drive.
“MADD has a great campaign,” said Darin David, the general sales manager at Kendall Honda of Eugene. The dealership hosted the event Saturday and had tied a red ribbon to every car in the lot.
“I was the victim of a drunk driver — Now I’m MADD,” read one bumper sticker.
Most members of MADD haven’t been directly affected by a drunk driver, vice president Bill Rice said. Rice joined the group after his son’s death 15 years ago and has been volunteering with the group ever since.
MADD has three goals: stop drunk driving, support the victims and prevent underage drinking.
According to Charlie Durrant, office manager for the Lane County chapter of MADD, 16,653 people were killed last year in accidents involving a drunk driver. That’s exactly 40 percent of the total traffic fatalities in America last year.
That number has been decreasing for the past 18 years, and the group’s eventual goal is to reduce the death count to zero. Rice encouraged students at the University to think twice about driving home after consuming alcohol.
“Students have to use some common sense,” Rice said. “Call a shuttle or a cab.”
Brook Reinhard is a community reporter for the Oregon Daily Emerald. He can be reached at [email protected].