Everyone has the right not to be killed on the highway

By Dorreen Yellow Bird

MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, held a kick-off event Tuesday in the tribal chambers to try to curb drunk driver during the holidays.  Verlie White Calf, MADD advocate, brought together patrolmen, officers, service providers and concerned citizens to talk about ways to keep citizens alive on our highways.

The theme of the event is “My Right to a Safe Holiday.”

As each speaker rose to the podium, it is obvious each had experienced the carnage on the highway.  From the patrol officers who receive insults from angry motorists that they’ve pulled over, to those who have to tell a father, mother, wife, husband or child that their loved one is dead. It’s hard, one officer said, when we get spit at, cussed down, but even harder telling someone they’ve lost a loved one.

“100 percent of those stopped on the highway 22 were alcohol related,” said one of the highway patrol officers. 

Added to impaired drivers on the highway, is the highways themselves.  The  highways on the reservation are over-crowded with semi trucks, oil-related traffic, casino and routine traffic.  Traffic has increased many times over on highways that were not meant for this much traffic making it even more important for drivers to be sober and safe drivers.

The oil activity on the reservation has increased the number of out-of-state drivers tremendously.  In the past, 12 percent of out-of-state drivers were involved in vehicular accidents; with the increased number of out-of-state driver, the risk has increased. 

Recommendations from the patrolmen, officers and service providers are:  If you must party during the holidays, get a designated driver before you began the party and make sure that person does not drink.

If you see someone driving erratically, or there are signs the driver might be drinking call 911 or the tribal police.  They take all calls seriously, they said.  They can’t be everywhere, but the community can be watchful and get the drunk drivers off the road before a fatality.

Use your seat belt and buckle up your children even if you are just driving to the C store.  Make buckling up a routine habit. A 20 year veteran of the highway patrol once said, “I’ve never had to unbuckle a dead body out of a car.”

Do not use your cell phone while driving.  Pull over to talk.  It only takes a minute.  Do not, for any reason, try to text message while driving.  Text messaging is one of the latest and fastest growing reasons for accidents and accidents that can cause death.  You might not be killed in an accident but your inattention may cause the death of an innocent person.