Want to be a ZERO Hero?

December has been designated by presidential proclamation as National Impaired Driving Prevention Month, but it wasn’t always noted as such and was only a weeklong recognition at its inception. It’s time for a little history lesson because once we understand where we have come from, we can decide where we want to go.

In 1980, a mother in California lost her daughter to a drunk driver. With her anger arising from grief, she created a non-profit organization to combat the devastation that she, along with other mothers, had experienced. The President of The United States, Ronald Reagan, heard her voice at the time. Perhaps this occurred because the First Lady, Nancy Reagan, was just beginning her ‘Just Say No’ initiative, or maybe this woman was the reason for Mrs. Reagan’s stance on drug resistance. In either case, President Reagan proclaimed National Drunk and Drugged Driving Awareness Week to begin on 12/12/82.

His Presidential Proclamation began as follows, “Collisions involving drunken drivers are the nation's single greatest killer of young people. This holiday season, we can give our children a great gift by doing everything we can to keep the drinking driver and the drug-user off our roads. Let us all observe safety and celebrate safely and let us remember that the safety belt in our car can be our best defense against drunken and drugged drivers.”

The beginning of impaired driving awareness on a national level was born. President Reagan continued this proclamation for the next six years (1983-1988), as did President George HW Bush in 1989. This awareness week skipped a few years; then President Bill Clinton expanded the proclamation to an entire month in December of 1993 with a name change: National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month. We must take note of the single-word change from raising awareness to now moving into the prevention of drunk and drugged driving. Now that the American public has been made aware of the issue, it is time we need to prevent it from happening.

In his proclamation, President Clinton stated, “During this National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month, I ask each citizen to work actively to help improve the safety of our roads and highways by pledging not to drink and drive. In addition, we must be alert to the risks of the road and make a special effort to ensure that others do the same. We also need to realize that the combination of legal or illegal drugs and alcohol is especially hazardous and contributes to loss of control, loss of judgment, and certainly, loss of the ability to safely navigate a vehicle.”

In 1994, the wording for the Presidential Proclamation changed a bit. It states, “All across the Nation, Americans are coming together in an ever-expanding chorus of voices demanding to end drunk and drugged driving. Too many family members and friends have already been lost. In recent years numerous grassroots organizations have arisen throughout the land and dedicated themselves to ending this national tragedy.” (And yes, you guessed it, SADD is definitely on that list!)

The current name of National Impaired Driving Prevention Month was changed in 2009 by President Barrack Obama’s Presidential Proclamation. He stated, “During National Impaired Driving Prevention Month, we are reminded of the importance of driving free from the influence of alcohol and drugs, and we renew our commitment to preventing the senseless loss of life that too often results from this irresponsible behavior. By working together, we can make our Nation’s roadways safer for all Americans.”

With the combination of the words ‘drunk and drugged,’ we now have ‘impaired.’ I believe this word change and the interpretation of President Obama’s sentiment lead us to think that any impairment is irresponsible, and we can all be a part of the solution to keep our roads safe. And to that, he’s certainly not wrong!

At the time of this blog’s creation, the 2024 Presidential Proclamation had yet to be penned. However, a 2023 proclamation from Joe Biden stated, “As we head into the holiday seasons, we urge Americans everywhere to do the right thing. If you plan on drinking, arrange a sober ride home in advance; ride-sharing apps have made getting home safely easier than ever. If you have used any substance, never get behind the wheel. If you see someone, a friend, loved one, colleague, or anyone else—putting themselves or others at risk, offer to help. It matters. You could save a life.”

Now that we know the history of National Impaired Driving Prevention Month and can see the influence of our organization and others like us in keeping this topic at the forefront, we can not rest assured that our work is done. Especially at a time of the year when imbibing most often occurs, lots of family gatherings, work parties, and holly jolly festivities everywhere; New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day statistics annually show the highest number of crashes caused by impaired driving. We need to remain steadfast in our calls for greater awareness of the importance of this issue.

Perhaps our efforts will see other types of impairments added to this list in the future… Distracted driving? Drowsy driving? One can only hope. Our next order of business, rather than being influenced by these proclamations, is to see our youth as the influencers we need for change. Whether we are raising awareness by sharing stories and statistics of the lives affected by these reckless choices or promoting resources and prevention programming to help prevent crashes and fatalities, SADD will never quit fighting for ZERO. Zero lives lost. Zero communities rocked. Zero bedrooms empty. Zero hearts broken.

So, what do you say… Want to be an influencer? a ZERO Hero?

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Learn more about SADD's programs and tackling the issues of substance use and impaired driving at sadd.org/programs.