Mothers Against Drunk Driving

2 decades of mourning, 20 years of education

      Amy, Erika, Jennifer and Geanna decided to go out for dinner to mark the end of Christmas break and the return to school the very next day. Classes at C. W. Post would resume for Amy tomorrow, and friend Erika would return to Miami University.
      But there was no tomorrow for three of the girls, thanks to another decision made by someone none of them knew. The 57-year-old man who chose to drink and drive that night hit the girls' car broadside on Guinea Woods Road in Old Westbury.
      Amy Cornella, a Valley Stream North High School grad, her friend from childhood, Erika Tegelman, and Jennifer Molloy were killed on January 13, 1991. Geanna Partland was seriously injured.
      "Amy was 17-years old and starting her life," mother Dee Cornella said at a press conference last Wednesday unveiling new 20' by 30' billboards against drunk driving to be erected on Long Island. "My life, and all who knew Amy has changed forever because someone chose to drink and drive. We will never see her graduate from C. W. Post College, or get married or have a family."
      The drunk driver served 60 days in jail and five years probation. "I think that's a disgrace," Ms. Cornella told The Herald last week. "Unfortunately, older people think it will never happen to them. They say, 'I've done this all my life.' As far as I'm concerned, you drink and drive, you know what you're doing when you get behind the wheel, it should be considered murder."
      The billboards show a picture of Amy and Erika, with the inscription: "We miss her. A drunk driver didn't." Ms. Cornella, joined at Wednesday's press conference by John and Ottilie Tegelman, Erika's parents, said, "If a picture is worth a thousand words, the portrait of Amy and Erika speaks volumes. The loss of these two beautiful young women is made personal to every parent. This billboard should make everyone who considers drinking and driving, stop, and realize the personal consequences of the thoughtless act."
      The billboards are an initiative taken by both Nassau and Suffolk Counties with the Long Island chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). There will be 35 such billboards, officials say, and Nassau intends to place a wrecked car at each site, "to strengthen the message."
      The national organization of Mothers Against Drunk Driving was formed by a small group of California women in 1980 after a 13-year old girl was killed by a hit and run driver. The Long Island chapter was founded two years later.
      Ms. Cornella, now a vice president of MADD Long Island, says that the group's educational efforts have been effective. "I think we're really getting out there, making people more and more aware of the effects of drinking and driving. We go to elementary schools and middle schools and high schools, before they get their license; I think there more awareness now."
      MADD is a nonprofit, grass roots anti-DWI (Driving While Intoxicated or Impaired) organization of victims' families and concerned citizens working to prevent and reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by drunk drivers.
      Members provide assistance to victims of drunk driving crashes, assist in DWI prosecutions, and support stronger DWI laws. MADD attends DWI trials and hearings at victims' requests, participates in public awareness programs, provides speakers for organizations and school programs, and monitors police and judicial procedures for DWI cases.
      Regardless of its name, MADD's membership definitely does not consist only of mothers. Fathers, brothers, sisters, victims, friends and anyone committed to the cause of reducing drunk driving are welcome.

Working for others

      Ms. Cornella joined MADD right after Amy was killed. "They have a wonderful victims' support group, which we needed so much at the time. They come to court with you if you need them; if you have a question, they are there to help. They were very good to us. It is so important at a time like that to have someone to talk to, someone who's been there, people who have gone through it."
      "We are trying to convince the legislature to get the legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) reduced from .10 to .08 for DWI," Ms. Cornella said. A BAC of .08 translates into about four drinks in one hour on an empty stomach of a 170 lb. man.
      "We need a lot more support to get that done. At .08, science tells us that a person's fatal crash risk significantly increases to at least 11 times that of a sober driver." Ms. Cornella reports that the driver who hit her daughter's car that night in 1991 had a BAC of 1.8 grams per deciliter three hours after the crash.

Awareness still an issue

      While statistics reveal a decrease in DWI arrests over the last several years, such data is no comfort to loved ones who are losing friends and family members in alcohol-related crashes at a rate of a little less than one every half hour in America. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about one person every two minutes is injured in crashes in which alcohol was present.
      Almost 20 percent of all traffic crashes involving drivers under the age of 21 involve alcohol. A government agency reports that half of the DWI offenders on probation, and over half of those in jail, reports drinking only beer prior to arrest.
      According to data gathered from 12 states, about a third of all drivers arrested for DWI are repeat offenders. In 1998, one out of nine intoxicated drivers in fatal crashes have had a prior DWI conviction within the last three years.