As sunset was approaching Tuesday evening on the National Mall in D.C., roughly 10,000 battery-powered candles were evenly spread out with framed pictures of family and friends who’ve been killed by a drunk driver.
The candles were symbolic of the total of people killed by a drunk driver annually, which has surpassed 13,000 since 2019, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) along with supporters, members of Congress and the National Transportation Safety Board, gathered on the Mall to show their continued support for anti-drunk driving technology in U.S. vehicles. Some legislation has been passed, but the HALT rules concerning required technology for automakers recently missed a completion deadline and it remains an ongoing issue on Capitol Hill.
The HALT Act, signed into law on Nov. 15, 2021, “directs the federal government to require all new cars come equipped with smart technology that passively, seamlessly and unobtrusively detects and stops impaired driving,” according to MADD.
As a part of that act, the U.S. Department of Transportation was required to complete its final regulation for anti-drunk driving technology by Nov. 15, 2024. But the department missed the deadline.
“The fact of the matter is, this technology that exists today, but is not in cars,” said MADD CEO Stacey Stewart. “If this technology were in cars today, it would save 10,000 lives per year.”
She acknowledged many have been waiting on the federal government to complete a rule so the technology can be introduced to U.S. automakers.
Other members in attendance Tuesday evening included Rana Taylor, a Michigan resident who lost her sister, brother in-law and their three children in a crash involving a drunk driver.
“We could spout numbers, say, 10,000 lives lost here, X amount of lives impacted here,” Taylor said, while among the display of soft-white, flickering candles and family photos.
“But it’s really something different when you can visually see that impact, and to be able to help put this on display for people … feels to me like just such an incredible way to honor these individuals who’ve lost their lives so tragically.”
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