By Sheila Lockwood, National Ambassador and Road Safety Advocate, Mothers Against Drunk Driving
On June 10, 2018, a drunk driver made a choice that stole my son Austin’s future.
Eight years later – on the day Austin died – I stood in a room full of engineers at InCabin USA, who are building technology that could help prevent that same tragedy from happening to another family.
Before anything else, I am a mother who loves her children dearly. I am also someone no parent should ever have to become – a mother who lost her child to a drunk driver.
My son, Austin, was 23 years old. We had just celebrated his birthday two weeks before the crash. Like so many young adults, he was looking ahead—to new opportunities, new experiences, and a future he deserved the chance to live. He was kind, funny, generous, and full of life. He had the kind of smile that could light up a room and the kind of heart that made people feel seen.
Austin was a passenger. The driver made the choice to drink and drive, and it cost my son his life.
Austin’s death was preventable. Since the crash, I have dedicated my life to making sure more families do not have to live this story, advocating for stronger drunk driving laws in Wisconsin and Illinois, speaking with lawmakers, raising awareness with MADD, and helping push for the lifesaving HALT Drunk Driving Law. That work has taken me from state capitols and classrooms to public hearings and national advocacy efforts, always with one goal: to turn preventable loss into meaningful change.
That is why I was honored to speak at the conference that brought together engineers, safety experts, and industry leaders to explore the future of in-cabin vehicle innovation and connected mobility. Alongside MADD’s Chief Government Affairs Officer Stephanie Manning, I shared Austin’s story. I discussed how advanced impairment prevention technology could have saved his life and will save thousands of lives each year once fully implemented in vehicles. I was able to speak directly to the engineers, developers, designers, researchers, and innovators who are creating the future of vehicle safety. Throughout the conference, I saw innovative technologies capable of detecting signs of impairment, distraction, and unsafe driving behavior—and intervening before a vehicle ever enters traffic. It gave me so much hope. These systems are real tools with the power to stop an impaired driver before they ever leave a driveway, a parking lot, or a celebration. They represent the moment a vehicle can recognize danger and prevent a terrible choice from becoming fatal.
I often think about how different my life would be if these solutions had existed on the night Austin was killed. If there had been something…anything…that could have prevented that impaired driver from moving that vehicle, Austin would still be here. That is the reality I carry every day.
To the technologists leading this work: you may never meet the families you save. You may never see the birthdays still celebrated, the graduations still attended or the empty chairs that never become empty. But those families will stay whole and continue to grow because of what you are building.
This movement needs laws, advocacy, enforcement, and education. But it also needs innovators and change makers to keep advancing these technologies and stop impaired driving before it kills or injures someone else.
I left InCabin USA with Austin on my mind and hope for the future. A world without impaired driving is possible, and thanks to the people advancing this lifesaving innovation, it is closer than ever.
