Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) will hold a news conference to (1) announce the details of its new "Higher Risk Driver" campaign to crack down on repeat offenders, drivers with high blood-alcohol levels, and convicted offenders who drive with suspended licenses; and (2) to warn New Year's revelers that the Y2K crash most likely to kill is one caused by a drunk driver. MADD will issue a "Safe Party Guide" providing safety tips on how to avoid alcohol-related Y2K crashes. New Year's is often the single most deadly drunk driving holiday of the year. The event will mark the start of MADD's year-long 20th anniversary.

WHEN:

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1999 - 10:00 A.M.

WHERE:

National Press Club (Holeman Lounge),
14th and F Streets, N.W. Washington, D.C.

WHO:

• MADD National President Karolyn Nunnallee
• Incoming National President Millie Webb (while pregnant, she and her family were hit by a drunk driver, resulting in Webb suffering burns over 73% of her body, severe burns to her husband, the deaths of her daughter and nephew, and a daughter born legally blind.)
• Rosalyn G. Millman, Acting Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation.
• Jacquelyn Buchelli (Los Angeles), whose husband was killed in a New Year's crash one year ago involving a super-drunk driver.

WHY:

Repeat offenders represent one-third of drivers arrested for drunk driving or involved in alcohol-related fatal crashes. Drivers with blood-alcohol levels of .15 or higher account for 65% of all drinking driver deaths and are 385 times more likely to be in a fatal crash than a non-drinking driver. The "Higher Risk Driver" campaign is part of MADD's comprehensive plan to attack drunk driving in the new millennium that includes setting a nationwide .08 B-A limit.

The New Year's holiday is often the single most deadly drunk driving holiday of the year. On the average day in the U.S., 38% of traffic fatalities involve alcohol. However, MADD will warn that over the past two New Year's, 63% of highway deaths were alcohol-related -- the highest percentage of highway deaths involving alcohol of any holiday those years. MADD will issue a "Safe Party Guide" that provides party hosting tips, alcohol-free drink recipes, and information on how to spot and report a drunk driver.

PHOTO NOTE: Among the wide range of driving restrictions MADD will propose to address "higher risk drivers" is the required use of ignition interlock devices in vehicles of convicted drunk drivers. A sedan equipped with an ignition interlock device will be parked outside the National Press Building where a demo will take place at the close of the news conference.

B-ROLL VIDEO will be available with footage of crashes, sobriety checkpoints, roadside testing, police arresting a repeat offender, vehicles being towed, repeat offender checking into DWI corrections facility, drivers blowing into ignition interlock devices, people drinking at holiday parties, designated drivers, and holiday PSAs.