We Save Lives Partners with The Courage to Speak Foundation

The Courage to Speak Foundation is now proudly partnered with We Save Lives, a new organization that was founded by Candace Lightner, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Ginger Katz has known Candace since they worked together on Families Changing America. Ginger is honored to have been invited to join such an amazing partnership! Below is the press release for We Save Lives.

MADD Founder starts New Organization

We Save Lives

Highway Safety leader, Candace Lightner, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), has announced the formation of an innovative new collaborative partnership for highway safety initiatives called We Save Lives. “Our main focus is on the 3 D’s: Drunk driving, Drugged driving and Distracted driving”, she stated. The partnership’s sole mission is to save lives by promoting highway safety and responsible driving.

As MADD’s Chief Executive Officer and President, Candace built MADD from a small California grassroots organization into an international corporation with more than 400 chapters worldwide. Her political activism led to the passage of more than 500 life-saving bills at the state and national levels, the results of which are estimated to have saved upwards of 600,000 lives.

The We Save Lives website (organization) will inform, educate, mobilize, and find solutions to the highway safety crashes that kill more people in a single year than were killed in the nation’s last major war.

Leveraging the power of the web, We Save Lives galvanizes like-minded individuals and organizations to tackle the problems of drunk, drugged and distracted driving through leadership, advocacy, education, and program support. An umbrella organization, it is comprised of private, for-profit, and non-profit international groups that share the desire to act as a representative voice for issues of driver safety.

According to Stephen Talpins, former Director of the National District Attorneys Association – American Prosecutors Research Institute’s National Traffic Law Center (NTLC) and current We Save Lives Board member, “By providing our members with one unified voice, we will have a far greater impact on the deadly “3 D” issues,” by setting policy, raising awareness, and ultimately saving lives on our nation’s highways.”

Facts About the “3D’s:

Drunk Driving still remains a major threat on our highways, despite tremendous strides in the past 30 years. Approximately, 31% of our fatalities in 2011 were the result of drunk driving.

Drugged driving injures more than 500.000 people each year according to the Institute for Behavior and Health. An estimated 10 million people aged 12 and older reported driving under the influence of illicit drugs during the year prior to being surveyed according to the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health

Distracted-driving crashes killed more than 3,331 people in 2011, up from 3,092 in 2010 and another 387,000 people were injured. At any given time during the day in America, approximately 660,000 drivers are using cell phones or manipulating electronic devices, a number that has held steady since 2010, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“Everyone knows someone whose life has been impacted by the drunk, drugged and distracted driving epidemic, said Lightner. It is why I’m so committed to We Save Lives. Please join us – our nation and our nation’s families need you!”

For more information, go to: https://wesavelives.org/ or like We Save Lives on Facebook or follow on Twitter at Voice4Safety or email Candace Lightner at CLightner@wesavelives.org