Friday, February 09, 2007

Drunks Against Mad Mothers (DAMM) Strike Back


It doesn’t matter if you’re a water buffalo, canary, house pet or person, chances are favorable that you are aware of the use of statistics in our lives. Whether you’re being born, voting, living, or dying you are personally involved with statistics. I was forced to take (and pass) a Statistics class prior to receiving my college diploma, even though I claimed to be a conscientious objector.


If you’re wondering what I could have possibly been conscientiously objecting to, it was the whole concept of statistical methods. You see, I’ve watched these little bits of information be used in ways that just are not right. With the correct wording, sentence structure and a little well placed inflection, the results of a study or survey can be, and usually are, manipulated to portray whatever you want them to.


I’m going to use drunken driving statistics to show how this is accomplished. Before everyone starts trying to lynch me let me state that I do not advocate drunk driving in any way, shape or form. I’ve done it hundreds of times and I have finally concluded it’s stupid. Without adequate research and personal knowledge, however, I would not be able to say with any authority how stupid it is. (Disclaimer: The author no longer drives drunk.)


In 1980 an organization called Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) was created. Since then, MADD has grown from a small grass roots effort to a national phenomenon and they’ve done it by presenting data about drinking and driving in a manner that renders the population without a means of contesting their claims.


For instance, http://www.madd.org/ quotes information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that says in 2005, 39 percent of all traffic fatalities were killed in alcohol-related crashes. That’s 16,895 out of 43,443 people killed in accidents that involved alcohol. That is comparable to one person every half-hour.


This is true. What they don’t tell you though is what I have a problem with.


The term "alcohol-related" doesn’t say the fatality was caused by the presence of alcohol. If a drunk guy is walking down the street and a sober driver runs over him while swerving to miss a herd of penguins, that’s considered an alcohol-related fatality. If a drunk driver in a car gets hit by a sober guy on a bicycle, that’s reported as an alcohol-related fatality. An NHTSA Highway & Vehicle/Safety Report estimated 12 percent of alcohol-related traffic fatalities involve an intoxicated bicyclist or pedestrian and not a drunk behind the wheel of a car.


The NHTSA has also declared “a motor vehicle crash is considered to be alcohol-related if at least one driver or non-occupant (such as a pedestrian or pedal cyclist) involved in the crash is determined to have had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .01 gram per deciliter (g/dL) or higher.” A BAC of .01 is a long way from the .08 that is considered legally intoxicated in the United States.


So when MADD cites statistics saying 39 percent of traffic fatalities, or 16,885 people, were killed in alcohol-related crashes, we now know that 2,024 of those deaths weren’t the result of someone drinking and driving an automobile. Out of the remaining 14,859 fatalities, it’s estimated that 15 percent or 2,228 fatalities involved someone with a BAC less than .08 which is not even legally intoxicated. That leaves us with 12,631 out of 43,443 traffic fatalities actually caused by drunken drivers. That comes out to 29 percent and not the 39 percent being cited by MADD.


If we then consider that 29 percent of all traffic fatalities in this country are caused by drunk drivers, wouldn’t that indicate, statistically speaking of course, that 71 percent of all traffic fatalities are caused by sober people? Who is causing more deaths on our nation’s roads, drunks or sober folks? Who should MADD really be mad at?


Another statistic I came across while researching for this article has left me scratching my head and asking, “Huh?”


According to a study released by Loyola University Health Systems, safety belts were found wrapped around 12.8 percent of fatally injured intoxicated drivers, while a whopping 33 percent of sober drivers killed in crashes were buckled in. These statistics tell me that 87.2 percent of drunks not wearing seat belts walked away from accidents while only 67 percent of sober people not buckled up were able to walk away.


And that’s why I despise the word statistics. Statistics tell me that sober folks cause more fatal accidents than drunks. So why aren’t the people not drinking and driving breaking the law, being arrested and sent to jail, followed by a treatment program that teaches them the basics of drinking and driving?


Why would there be such a huge push for people to buckle up when clearly the numbers tell us that more people die while wearing their seat belts and not drinking?


Based on this information, I suggest everyone get naked, open a beer and go for a ride without any protection…. from seatbelts I mean.

22 comments:

Stephen Beck said...

“That leaves us with 12,631 out of 43,443 traffic fatalities actually caused by drunken drivers,“ wrote Ron DeYoung.

The problem is with “caused by drunken drivers.” The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not assign fault or deal with the cause of “alcohol-related” accidents. Many of the A-R accidents were the fault of sober drivers. Of those that were the fault of the drinkers, alcohol may or may not have been the cause; e.g., a missing or obscured stop sign.

A little more to consider about fatal “alcohol-related” accidents: Most of the fatalities are the drinkers, most are single-vehicle accidents, and most happen in rural areas but 80 percent of the population is urban. There’s a world of difference between a snow-covered, twisting mountain road and the main drag of Las Vegas. Further, some are suicides and some of the deaths are due to natural causes such as a heart attack while driving.

Of drivers in accidents, drinking drivers in fatal accidents are 127 thousandths of 1 percent. As seen in your column and above, even that 0.127% greatly exaggerates the issue.

The deceitful practices of NHTSA and MADD go much deeper. Get more information and a free book titled "Big Brother’s New Prohibition" at: sunjambooks.com/DAMM

Stephen Beck

Ron DeYoung said...

Stephen, thanks for the info and for the link to the book, which I have downloaded. It's good to know there are other people out there fighting to expose and alter these behaviors. I've said repeatedly on this blog and in many articles I've written elsewhere, that there are more of us than them. All we need to do is get us all together.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for taking the time to debunk those folks who are looking to ease their grief by ruling others and their freedoms. I do think that drinking and driving should not be ignored but I remember that even before the self-rightous madd existed, there were dwi laws already.
posted under anonymous because i do not have a google account.
my email is izzez@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

At least 100 people a week attend the MADD VIP meetings in my small county. At $50 a pop, plus another $15 for the BAC, that's a serious chunk of change. No wonder the devastated victim's advocate cheered right up while counting the fat wad of cash (checks, credit cards not accepted).

Not to mention the $1000's each "drunk" pays for lawyers, fines, probation, etc. Drinking and driving has become such a huge income generator I wonder why I still have to pay taxes. Oh I forgot MADD has to pay their administrators and fundraisers over 50%. That and other expenses seem to leave less than $1 million for actual lobbying. But then, they haven't posted an annual report for 3 years.

Anonymous said...

Don't forget the money that goes to the AA meetings when that cult brainwashes some sucker into joining because the court says they have to attend meetings prior to a trial. The system no longer stresses the innocent until proven guilty point anymore the courts make you jump through hoops before you really legally have to. The moment you are charged you are already tried and convicted, and the burden of proof is put upon your shoulders rather than the other way around.

Unknown said...

The sad part is the court system loves dui's because that's where they get most of there money from so they go along with madd. but it's all about money meanwhile the productive citizen goin out for 2 or 3 drinks to celebrate a promotion gets the punishment. It's pretty sad when a sexual predator gets better treatment than a productive citizen just because the state needs money.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to bump an old topic, but I came across an essay from a DUI defense attorney that outlines what the accused goes through and how the charge compares to more grievous charges such as murder. The link is http://www.duicenter.com/new_dui/index.html.

Jacob Israel said...

I have been unable to locate a copy of Stephen Beck's publication. Can anyone please advise where I might get a copy?

Jacob Israel said...

Quiz

Ignoring the above facts, and ASSUMING that 10% of all fatal accidents involve a driver with a BAC greater than 0.10 (drunk drivers), that 90% involve only drivers with a BAC < 0.10 (sober drivers), and that only 30% of all drivers IN GENERAL have a BAC greater than 0.10:

Which driver are you most likely to be killed by? A drunk driver or a sober driver?
By how much?
Per mile, which is the most dangerous driver?
By how much?

Anonymous said...

ARREST, TRY, CONVICT, IMPRISON THE MADD

MADD mania was started by the most irresponsible parents imaginable, people who always blame society for all their problems and NEVER take responsibility for their own mistakes, failures, and bad parental decisions. It was their own STUPID parental decisions which caused all their own grief, and now the grief of 30 to 60 million Americans who've been arrested for DUI, NOT for making bad parental decisions (as they have), NOT because they committed a "crime", but because they MIGHT have had enough to drink to MAYBE increase their probability of having an ACCIDENT that the VAST MAJORITY of them (like 99.99% of them) NEVER even had. Over the last three decades, the MAXIMUM number of drivers who MIGHT have been responsible for CAUSING a fatal accident is (45,000/year x 30 years x 4% = ) 54,000, with SOBER drivers responsible for the other 1,296,000 fatal accidents.

Had we NOT arrested FORTY EIGHT MILLION AMERICAN CITIZENS for DUI, is it even remotely possible that MORE than 54,000 drinking drivers would have been *responsible* for causing a fatal accident? Most emphatically NOT. But just for grins, let's make the HUGE leap of faith that this figure would have been DOUBLE that, and that this massive witch hunt SAVED 54,000 lives.

Is it even close to being worth THIS MUCH to save so few lives? This would STILL mean that (48,000,000 - 108,000 / 48,000,000) = 99.775% of those ARRESTED were ARRESTED for a "crime" they NEVER committed [read: for you liberals out there, this means that the DAMAGE that all 47,892,000 of these drivers arrested for drinking and driving, COMBINED, inflicted on society was ZERO], and who we know with absolute, utter mathematical certainty never will have a fatal accident.

Add to that the fact that every other country which outlawed random alcohol breath testing actually saw their fatality rates drop, some by as much as two thirds. Countries like England now have ONE THIRD the fatal accident rate per car that we do, and we have a huge amount of evidence that the PRIMARY CAUSE of our very high fatality rate is random alcohol breath testing itself.Cost per Life "Saved" Each one of these DUI arrests is estimated to have cost the arrestee at LEAST $10,000 when all factors are combined (PLUS 90,000 suicides motivated by DUI arrests), making the combined costs of this colossal hoax more than $480 BILLION. How many lives were ACTUALLY saved? The most optimistic estimate, even if we did not KNOW that this program INCREASED rather than reduced our motor vehicle fatality rate, is 10% of the 54,000 lives, or 5,400 lives. This is an average of $89 MILLION per live "saved" ($480 billion / 5,400 lives "saved") making this a HUGE waste of money. PLUS the number of DUI related suicides exceeds this figure by 16 FOLD.



JUSTICE DEMANDS THAT THEY *EACH* BE PUNISHED ONE BILLION TIMES MORE SEVERLY THAN THEIR 59,892,000 INNOCENT VICTIMS WERE

Jacob Israel said...

One more INDEPENDENT study from the University of Michigan reveals that sober women drivers are more dangerous than DRINKING men drivers:

http://fathersmanifesto.net/womendrivers.htm

Anonymous said...

I am getting ready to spend 30 days in the DUI lockup for a 2nd offense DUI where my serum blood test was .11. Yeah - I know they aren't supposed to use serum blood but tell that to the DA in Northampton Cty, PA. I was going to trial until I ran across a biased judge who told my atty off the record he didn't care that the evidence against me showed me not guilty. If I didn't take the plea offer I was going to get 3 - 6 months in jail for having the balls to challenge the system. My first DUI was 6 years ago and in PA you are screwed if you get a 2nd one within 10 years. Thank God I don't live there anymore and will do my 30 days and never return. I have lost my wife over this ordeal and my 16 year old son thinks it was OK for the police to lie because he had seen me drive when I shouldn't a couple times before. My 20 year old daughter will spend her summer break from college with me. This has completely wrecked our family and you can tell by watching the video's that I wasn't drunk. Doesn't matter - got to keep the DA's plea rate at 98+% and above.

Anonymous said...

I'M WILLING TO HELP STOP THIS MADD!!NESS AS WELL JUST LET ME KNOW HOW WE GO ABOUT IT AND I'LL DONATE AS MUCH TIME AS NEEDED TO GET THIS RUNNING!!rmay1118@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Anonymous.
In my area they have become the judge, jury and prosecutor. They have cops in their backpocket, they don't call people in they text the cops directly. They circumvent all legal procedure. If one has a personal gripe or beef against someone use your trusty cop on the payroll. Thhey have become so powerful they control the media and rehularly censure any information they don't like.

damm member said...

2 dui' s 11 years ago! Quit drinking and driving. But i still drink every day. I guess that means im not an alcoholic any more. State of Michigan is stupid

Anonymous said...

If we'd like to use these statistics to our use then how about we say as of right now alcohol related accidents have kill .003115% of Americans this year so far. Granted there is one month left this year I don't see that increasing to number that even should even raise a brow at how shocking this statistic is. Yet MADD has made DWI laws all around the country so strict that it ruins the lives of drivers who have four beers with their buddies one night and drives them home but instead gets thrown in jail for 2 days and owes lawyers, government, car insurance companies, etc to sums of $20,000. I obviously am a victim of these circumstances myself. It irritates me when I try to be responsible and end up getting in the end. I passed all my sobriety tests as the officer says on the police report but he still felt like I was intoxicated. They unlawfully took my blood from my body, which is obviously in no way shape or form their property, and used it just to charge me money. They also took my license and threw me in a cell with attempted murders and other criminals for 2 days. After my stay in our wonderful county jail I resumed my usual college classes at Texas Tech University where I am graduating from with a 3.8 GPA and a degree in Applied Arts of Music. Come to find out I can't afford the $6k to hire a good enough lawyer to fight what injustice was served so for the next 10 years of my life I will be faced to answer to what happened one night when I was demeaned by law enforcement officials. In MADD's though I committed a violent crime in that I deserve all of this. This obviously is justice though.

Kellyrl said...

I always felt that madd was out of control. they start out with good intentions and get a few laws passed for the good, But after the organization is formed they do not know when, enough is enough. You made your point now go away! However the court system loves groups like this and will back them up 100% claiming and advertising to be doing good things for the people. Suddenly that old court house that has been there as long as you can remember with crumbling walls is torn down in the middle of a nation wide recession and replaced with a brand new beautiful building with no chance of going out of business. When no one can get a job anywhere the court thieves are in full production, the sickest mfers are the judges who claim that they are always in the right and your always in the wrong,and they are their to protect the people. A fine is $20.00, $50.00,$100.00 Anything more is theft. These criminals will ruin your life to make theirs better and madd will make thousands of people pay for their personal loss

Tiffany Donahue said...

MADD is hurting our country more than helping,it is a multi billion dollar industry that is hurting our civil rights and ruining lives. Hate on me all you want but I rarely drink and I am facing my 2ND DUI charge which carries a 18 to 12 month license suspendion, which in rural PA destroys everything you've tried to build. Our judges can not even overrole these laws! Sorry to all you MAD MOMs but this mom is pretty pissed herself!

Anonymous said...

I am very pleased with the construction of this site and am very happy to share a few words.I would like to request that the Owner or President of this site or should I say the"Authority having jurisdiction" please consider changing the name of this site to a formidable and catching phrase which gives meaning and light to power our Fathers and I am sure many mothers would join the force and quite possibly it could be a mother's force in disguise for all fathers and /or husband or boyfriend ect.
The new name for the new movement shall be:
FATHERS AGAINST
MAD
HATERS!

I gave this much thought before coming up with this phrase and it fits well.The very root of of this phrase arises from the fact that Fathers are not mad ,the mothers are and that while drunk driving is wrong ,it surely is very wrong for driving HATRED throughout our country towards any and every human being who makes the mistake of consuming alcohol, driving with a tail light out and having his or her life destroyed by going to prison, losing his home ,losing his children, losing his job ,losing his love, and losing his checking, savings and retirement to enrich a greedy class of righteous courthouse hierarchy.Only to become a statistical degraded insect with a new title "CONVICTED FELON" that can not vote or possess a firearm.With so much loss of dignity and worth he is all but literally destroyed.MAD MOTHERS OUGHT TO BE ASHAMED OF THEIR MAD HATRED TOWARDS HUMANS IN WHICH DESPITE A WRONGFUL ACT ARE VERY DECENT, LOVING, RIGHT, RESPONSIBLE, RESPECTABLE, HARD WORKING, AND GOD MADE THEM.MADD MOTHERS. .....YOUR HATE IS NOT WORKING.I have a solution that you all may want to consider and it's simple. MAKE THE THINGS WE OPERATE INOPERABLE TO FOLKS WHO HAVE CONSUMED ALCOHOL. Think of what a little bitty cell phone is capable of.It's a big rigged system out their for the fantastic fancy and formidable COURT HOUSES throughout the country, however neighborhoods are fragmented and poor thanks to organizations that strip power from the family unit.Taxpayers as well as working folks need Madd mothers to love and not hate.

Anonymous said...

Not sure how long your Damm group has been around. I was the singer lead guitar in a Punk Band I named and the band approved NAMED D.A.M.M. DRUNKS AGAINST MADD MOTHERS. We were a good band back in high school playing huge keg parties with lots of fans. Still punk too and against mad mothers. We were in So Cal in the OC 86-88 from FH high school. Good times.

Anonymous said...

Face it people, the MAD Mothers have gone to far lobbying in courts. And the courts let them we are a minority to sanctify free life. Life is not free under MAD. Correct this or perish.

elf said...

madd wants you to be guilty in tillproven inncoent. breathalzters on new cars. what if someone physically can't do it? they can't drive a new car.