Decade of pain: Mother hopes drivers change attitudes: 'It ruins families'

RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia launched an enhanced 2024 DUI enforcement and public education campaign, Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over . Governor Glenn Youngkin (R- Virginia) kicked off the campaign Monday alongside law enforcement, medical professionals, and EMS responders. The campaign is in its 23rd year of reminding Virginians of the consequences of impaired driving.

“The hardest thing is to tell a mom or a dad that your daughter will never walk again, or your son will never come home or graduate because someone got behind the wheel drunk,” Dr. Michael Aboutanos with VCU Medical Center said.

Youngkin said the campaign has made an impact over the past 22 years, but added many people still make poor decisions while impaired and decide it’s OK to get behind the wheel. He said he hoped the enhanced campaign would invoke changes in attitudes and perceptions.

“Most importantly, recognizing that you are taking other people's life or your life into your hands, and we just can't allow that to happen,” Youngkin said.

Last year, there were 6,979 alcohol-related crashes on Virginia roads resulting in 293 deaths and 4,400 injuries. The number of people killed increased nearly seven percent compared to 2022.

New research from market research company, Dynata, surveyed 256 Virginia drivers who are most likely to drive after drinking: 21- to 35-year-old males. The research showed that while nearly all of the 21–35-year-old male drivers surveyed believed it was important to make a plan to get a safe ride home after drinking, only about half planned ahead for a designated driver.

One hundred thirty Virginia law enforcement agencies will participate in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign through Labor Day. A total of 610 individual patrols and 95 sobriety checkpoints will be conducted across the Commonwealth.

Watch: Why Virginia's new DUI efforts are targeting men between ages 21 and 35

A Mother's Pain

Pam Cross, a Hanover woman who lost her daughter Meg Menzies to a drunk driver 10 years ago, said she hoped the campaign would help influence people’s decisions about driving impaired.

Menzies, an avid runner, was hit and killed in January 2014 in Hanover County, while training with her husband for the Boston Marathon.

Today, Menzies’ family continues to advocate for others through annual 5K races, Christian outreach, and spreading awareness about safety and impaired driving.

“I think that’s what bothers me the most, is that it’s preventable,” Cross said. “Any death from a drunk driver is preventable. They didn’t have to get in the car. There’s Uber, there’s Lyft, there’s family and friends and you don’t need to drive. You don’t need to get behind the wheel of a car and drive.”

Despite a decade having passed, Cross said the grief of losing a child never goes away.

“It ruins families,” Cross she said. “You take away a loved one from a family and it’s never the same.”

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