Alex Otte, MADD National President, Visits Hawaii
Alex Otte, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) National President will be visiting Hawaii to share her personal story as a victim of an impaired driving crash. She will also discuss information on MADD’s efforts as it relates to eliminating drunk driving and underage drinking prevention.
On Friday, September 16, in collaboration with the Hawaii Partnership for the Prevention of Underage Drinking, she will be sharing information about MADD’s Underage Drinking Prevention program – The Power of Youth. She will also talk about MADD’s recent work on Advanced Impaired Driving Technology which is expected to prevent more than 9,400 drunk driving deaths annually. This event, from 9:00 – 10:15 am, will be via Zoom and you must register to attend.
Please register here: https://tinyurl.com/AOtteUADZoomPresentation
Ms. Otte will also be at the Walk Like MADD on September 17, 2022, at Kaka’ako Waterfront Park. She will walk alongside registered participants to remember those who cannot walk, inspire other survivors, and collectively commit, with those who support our vision, to create a world of No More Victims.
Alex Otte Biography
Alex Otte’s family came to MADD in 2010, not long after a drunk driver forever changed Alex’s young life, when she was run over by an intoxicated boat operator two days before the July 4th holiday.
In the years immediately following the crash, Alex was involved with MADD as a volunteer, attending annual Walk Like MADD events and connecting with students in high schools across central Kentucky. Although Alex was only 13 years old at the time of her crash, she soon dedicated her life to ensuring that there will come a day when no other child is forced to face such a tragedy.
Before becoming National President in 2021, Alex worked with MADD Kentucky staff and many other dedicated volunteers to pass state legislation requiring the use of ignition interlocks for drunk driving offenders — first in 2015 and again in 2019, making Kentucky the 34th state with an all-offender ignition interlock law. Alex spoke out again on behalf of Marsy’s Law, a crime victims’ rights bill, in the state of Kentucky in 2018 and 2020, when it was ultimately added as an amendment to the state constitution.
Alex served as a National Teen Influence for MADD in 2014 and was awarded MADD’s National Youth Activist of the Year award in 2015 for her tireless efforts to pass ignition interlock legislation in her state.
As MADD’s national spokesperson, Alex speaks to lawmakers across the nation about the importance of requiring ignition interlocks for all offenders, a cornerstone of MADD’s Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving®. She advocates for high-visibility law enforcement, such as sobriety checkpoints that can reduce drunk driving deaths by 17 percent. She champions personal accountability and advanced drunk driving prevention technology in all vehicles, which has the potential to eliminate drunk driving.
Alex urges teens and young adults to abstain from alcohol until 21 and encourages parents and other role models to have this conversation with those in their sphere of influence. Alex has spent the past decade telling her devastating story, and the stories of so many like her, across the country at schools, churches, law enforcement groups and in the media. While such a personal story can be difficult to tell, Alex will spend the rest of her life grappling with the fact that she survived when so many others’ lives are needlessly lost. She chooses to believe that she has been put in this position to be a voice for injured victims and for those who have been killed as a result of this 100% preventable crime.
In addition to her volunteer work with MADD, Alex spent two years as a Research Associate for the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, focusing her attention on boating and water safety and preventing boating under the influence. She graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in Journalism.
Alex lives in Lexington with her husband, Zach.