Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) released its 2016 Report to the Nation Friday, an overview of legislative accomplishments that includes a rating for every state’s drunk driving reform efforts.
Out of a 5-star rating, Hawaii was given 3.5.
States are awarded stars for adopting drunk driving laws and/or implementing proven countermeasures that include:
- Conducting sobriety checkpoints
- Ignition interlocks for all drunk driving offenders
- Creating enhanced penalties for those who drive drunk with children in the vehicle
- Participating in “no-refusal” activities for those suspected of drunk driving
- Utilizing administrative license revocation for drunk driving offenders
Hawaii received full-star ratings for sobriety checkpoints and administrative license revocation, and half-stars for all-offender interlock law, child endangerment and “no refusal.”
As a new feature to help states pass the most effective drunk driving laws, this year’s five categories each have two subcategories, allowing for half-star ratings for states that need to improve their existing laws. For example, all states that conduct sobriety checkpoints receive a half-star, but those that conduct them at least once a month receive a full star.
The report comes just as the country begins six weeks of holiday celebrations that mark a deadly period of drunk driving crashes. In 2015, 973 people were killed in drunk driving crashes between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day — nearly 10 percent of all drunk driving crashes for the year.
On the day before and day of Thanksgiving and Christmas, 33 to 39 percent of all traffic fatalities were caused by drunk driving.
