February 2001

Election of Officers

The next meeting of the Northern Virginia Chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving will be held at 7:00 pm, Thursday, March 29, 2001, at the chapter office 900 South Washington Street, Suite 202, Falls Church, VA 22046. The primary purpose of the meeting will be to elect the chapter officers for the Fiscal Year 2001-2002.

Red Ribbon Run

The 6th Annual Red Ribbon Run on New Year's Eve was a huge success thanks to our volunteers and the support that we received from our major sponsors: The Connection Newspapers, Nissan, Acumen Heart Rate Monitors, Holiday Inn - Eisenhower Metro Center, Newton Asphalt, Pacers, and Fresh Samantha. Because the day was cold but clear, many runners registered on raceday which made it quite a challenge for the volunteers who did a tremendous job of getting all of the paperwork finished and all of the runners onto the course on time. A special note of thanks goes to Tom Packard who has coordinated the cones crew for the past three years regardless of the weather.

President's Letter

I hope that everyone had a good holiday season. This has been a busy time for us with the legislative session (which we hope to provide a detailed report in the next newsletter), but the work of stopping drunk driving doesn't seem to take a rest.

There are going to be some changes in the chapter in the next few months that will provide us with some great opportunities. Thanks to your support of our car donation program, we will be in a position to expand our services in the Northern Virginia area. While we are still working out the specifics, our focus is going to be on increasing our victim services. With all that we do, our commitment to the victims of drunk driving remains our priority. We hope the upcoming changes, which will be announced in our next newsletter, will only strengthen our commitment to the Northern Virginia community.

We are also very excited to have a new MADD chapter in the area. MADD Washington, D.C., officially got started earlier this month. It has been many years since MADD has had an official presence in our capitol city. I know they will be a valuable addition to the MADD family. They can be reached at their office downtown at (202) 974-2487. Please join me in welcoming them to the constant fight against drunk driving.

Chapter Office

The lease on our current office in Falls Church will expire in September 2001. We do not know if we will remain in our present office or move but we need to explore all of our options. If you know of a reasonably-priced, handicap-accessible office suite of about 1000 square feet that will be available in September, please call the office at 703-352-3944 and let us know.

PosterESSAY Contest

The flyers for the PosterESSAY Contest have been mailed to all of the public and private schools in the Northern Virginia area. Now we need entries. To make sure that the most talented kids win the great prizes (Savings Accounts from Burke & Herbert Bank, Dinner Certificates from Outback Steakhouse, and Movie Tickets from Lee Highway Multiplex Theater), we need your help. Call the school nearest to you and ask if the MADD PosterESSAY Contest is being conducted. If it is not, call the MADD office and give us the name and address of the person at the school who should be running it and we will mail him or her a personal copy of the flyer.

Executive Director's Letter

Congress recently passed .08 BAC as the national per se limit for impaired driving. The law gives states until 2004 to adopt the new standard. After that, states will lose a portion of their federal highway money each year. The law does provide a period in which those states which have lost highway funding could conform and have the lost funding restored. Nineteen states (including Virginia) and the District of Columbia already have per se limits of .08. All other states have per se limits of .10.

Many of those who oppose the .08 law argue that the .08 standard will not save lives but instead will only punish responsible drivers. However a NHTSA study found that the .08 laws in effect in 15 states in 1977 resulted in 275 fewer fatalities in those states and estimated that more then 500 lives would have been saved if all 50 states had .08 laws. Another NHTSA study found that in 5 states, simply implementing the .08 law was associated with significantly lower rates of alcohol-related fatalities. And another NHTSA study found that .08 is a level at which everyone shows signs of impairment -- even the most experienced drivers.

We in Virginia are fortunate that .08 has been the law here for several years. So long as our police, prosecutors and judges continue to vigorously enforce the drunk driving laws, our roadways will be safe for all of us. More information may be found on the NH TSA web site.

New Position at MADD

Although the final position description had not been approved as of press time for this newsletter, we will be looking for an individual to become the chapter's Victim/Program Coordinator. If you know of anyone who would be as asset to MADD, please have him or her contact Mike Green at the chapter office -- 703-352-3944 -- for details and a copy of the job posting.

Please Tell Your Friends

MADD has a vehicle donations program that be nefits donors at tax time and helps us to provide quality services in Northern Virginia. Call 703-779-7534 for information.