MADD and Smart Start Partner to Prevent Impaired Driving Through The MADD Network
Eastern Progress
By Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)
December 19, 2024
IRVING, Texas, Dec. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is honored to announce Smart Start, the nation’s leader in Alcohol Monitoring Technology, as The MADD Network’s newest Supporter Partner. Smart Start is amplifying MADD’s mission with a generous $50,000 gift this month. By uniting communities to prevent impaired driving and honor those affected, this partnership marks a powerful and inspiring step toward ending this crime nationwide.
“This partnership could not come at a more pivotal time, as December marks National Impaired Driving Prevention Month – a time dedicated to raising awareness and rallying action to save lives,” said MADD CEO Stacey D. Stewart. “For more than three decades, Smart Start has been a leader in preventing impaired driving and keeping offenders off our roads. With their support, we have a tremendous opportunity to create meaningful change, doubling the impact of every donation this month and driving our mission to end impaired driving across the nation.”
Headquartered in Grapevine, Texas, Smart Start has set the standard in Alcohol Monitoring Technology through lifesaving ignition interlocks and portable devices. Since its founding in 1992, Smart Start’s ignition interlock technology has recorded over a billion alcohol-free starts and blocked 11 million attempts to start a vehicle with alcohol detected on the driver’s breath.
“As the acknowledged leader in alcohol monitoring nationally with our advanced alcohol breath testing technology, Smart Start highly values the work that MADD does and our collective focus on ending impaired driving,” said Doron Grosman, CEO of Smart Start.
The MADD Network brings together a diverse collective of partners, all united in the mission to end impaired driving. As a member of The MADD Network, Smart Start will amplify key prevention messages, empower safe decision-making, and support MADD’s groundbreaking legislative initiatives. Together, MADD and Smart Start are creating a safer future for families across the country – working to eliminate impaired driving from every community.
Impaired driving continues to impact thousands of lives across the U.S. every day.
Every 78 seconds, someone is killed or injured in a drunk driving crash, and drunk driving deaths have surged by 33% since 2019. Two out of three people will experience the impact of drunk driving in their lifetime. Through The MADD Network, MADD and its partners are committed to reducing these numbers, fostering a culture of safety, and ultimately ending impaired driving.
For over four decades, MADD has led the way in advocacy, education, and victim support, saving more than 475,000 lives and providing vital assistance to over a million victims and survivors. In 2021, MADD achieved a historic milestone: the passage of the HALT Drunk Driving Act, which mandates that lifesaving anti-drunk driving technology be included in every new car. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, this technology will save 10,000 lives each year and prevent hundreds of thousands of injuries.