Sunday’s Frederick News-Post featured “a 12-page special edition that reports on MADD’s progress and continuing work in preventing and educating about drunken driving.” We recommend giving the whole section a read, but here are the highlights:
MADD President Laura Dean-Mooney discussed the potential for interlock technology to be installed in all cars:
“Dean-Mooney hopes that within the next 10 to 15 years, the technology will be in place that will not allow a car to start if the driver’s BAC is more than 0.08. The technology “has to be inexpensive, almost infallible and it has to be accepted by the public,” she said, as seat belts and air bag were easier.”
In a story on MADD’s beginning, the News-Post elaborated:
“But other devices are being developed that could become standard in every car — like seat belts and air bags. These devices would passively measure the BAC of anyone attempting to start the car.”
A few of the articles discussed policies that MADD supports. ABI was quoted in this story about sobriety checkpoints:
“The American Beverage Institute opposes sobriety checkpoints because they don’t believe they work and they are too expensive, said Sarah Longwell, managing director.
They inconvenience hundreds of drivers, intimidate people and catch only one or two drunken drivers at a time, she said.”
A lesser-known fact is that MADD’s poor fundraising and spending habits have led to poor charity rating grades:
“The American Institute of Philanthropy gave MADD a C grade in its latest edition of the Charity Rating & Watchdog Report.
The grade, based on an A through F scale, is intended to give donors an idea of how much money goes toward programs rather than fundraising.”
Over $15 million of MADD’s budget is spent on “salaries and wages of employees” and of the money MADD actually spends on programs, only “about a third goes to victim services.” Another third is spent on an aggressive, misguided legislative agenda. According to the News-Post:
“In the years since, MADD has become ubiquitous, taking in $44.4 million in fiscal 2008, but spending $47 of every $100 it receives on fundraising, and winning few federal legislative victories since the beginning of this decade.”
If MADD wants to improve its charity rating, perhaps it should spend more on victim services and less on efforts to pass draconian alcohol laws.