Football season will be starting soon enough, and unfortunately this means that there may be more drunk drivers on the roads. People who attend games or parties, or who watch sports at friend’s houses, may have a few drinks too many and may decide to drive home after the game. This creates a significant danger for themselves and for others on the roads.
If you or a loved one is harmed by an intoxicated driver, you need to understand your rights. A Boston drunk driving accident attorney can help you to take legal action after a drunk driving collision. While victims can receive monetary compensation; however, it is always better to find innovative ideas to strop drunk driving before it occurs. Mothers Against Drunk Driving has found one novel approach, joining with National Football League (NFL) teams to try to prevent intoxicated driving.
MADD and NFL Teams Tackle Drunk Driving
In 2010, Mothers Against Drunk Driving reached out to two NFL franchise to form a partnership. The Buffalo Bills and the Oakland Raiders were the first two teams to partner with MADD. Today, MADD sponsors safe-driving programs with a total of 14 different teams including Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Tennessee. The New England Patriots are, unfortunately, not among the teams that are partnered with MADD to stop drunk driving.
According to Fox Sports, there are a number of different ways that the NFL teams are helping in the fight to stop impaired drivers. For example, some teams play public service announcements during the game to remind fans to plan for a designated driver and to discourage people from getting behind the wheel drunk. An outreach program also reaches into tailgating areas, and victim-impact panels have been held for 11 different franchises including Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Green Bay, the New York Giants and Jets, and Tampa Bay. The victim-impact panels feature a community member whose friend or family member was either seriously injured or killed by a drunk driver.
The programs are having an impact. MADD documented a total of 252,455 safe-drivers in just the 2013 NFL season alone. The Safe Driver program involves fans signing up to act as safe, sober drivers. This number does not include fans who had arranged for their own designated driver outside of the MADD program.
MADD has also been invited to speak with NFL teams after players were arrested for drunk driving. For example, when several Steelers players were arrested in 2012, a MADD spokesperson came and made a presentation in which a high-school senior told of how she was permanently injured and her best friend was killed by an intoxicated driver.
Hopefully, with programs like this in place and MADD drawing attention to the risks, there will be fewer drunk driving incidents this football season and fans will be able to enjoy the game and get home safely without putting themselves or others at risk.
If you or someone you love has been injured a Boston drunk driving accident, call for a free and confidential appointment at (617) 777-7777.
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