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Candace Lightner Appears on High Behind the Wheel: Mass. Struggles to Keep Drugged Drivers Off the Road
February 2, 2017
Candace Lightner Will Speak at the 2017 International Boating and Water Safety Summit
February 7, 2017
Dear Representatives Lima and Nardillo:
I am writing you on behalf of We Save Lives, an international organization with more than 50 partners including, NOYS, DUID Victim Voices, the National Safety Council, the Center for Forensic Science and Research Education and the Institute for Behavior and Health. We Save Lives applaud your efforts to make our school children safe by mandating Ignition Interlocks on your school buses. We support H5151 and wish every state would follow your example. This legislation will help prevent a crime that kills approximately 10,000 people every year. Who would not want to take every precaution when it comes to safeguarding Rhode Island’s children?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a Rhode Island survey conducted by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), 2012, found the number of drivers who report driving after drinking too much was 2.4% compared to the national average of 1.9%. Unfortunately, impaired driving still accounts for a third of the state’s highway fatalities. Another study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine shows that “Mandatory laws that require every person convicted of a DUI to use an interlock were associated with a 7% decrease in the number of fatal drunken driving crashes”. Clearly all Rhode Island highway users, not just school children, would benefit from mandatory IID’s on every school bus. The benefits would far outweigh the costs and could lead to a reduction in a reduction in auto and liability insurance.
Please add our name to those who support H5151 and be assured that we will help in any way possible to see that it passes.
Thank you,
Candace Lightner, President
We Save Lives
We ask residents of Rhode Island to download this letter and contact their representatives to voice their support for this bill.
From WPRI 12 Eyewitness News:
Two state lawmakers want a device used to prevent drunk drivers from starting their vehicles to be installed in Rhode Island school buses.
In a news release Wednesday, Rep. Charlene Lima and Rep. Robert Nardolillo said they were co-sponsoring legislation that would require every school bus in the state to be equipped with ignition interlock systems. The device forces a to blow into a tube to start their vehicle. If the device detects alcohol on the driver’s breath, the vehicle won’t start.
Both lawmakers said the recent arrest of a Westerly school bus driver on DUI charges pushed them to action.
“We can no longer subject our school children to even the slightest chance that an impaired bus driver will end their lives before they even begin,” Nardolillo said.
