MADD's earliest known usage of "designated driver" is in 1986. MADD has since led the charge to popularize the phrase, making it a household term. Today MADD urges the public to plan ahead and designate...
Archives: History
In the mid-80s an important term begins to emerge in MADD’s vernacular, the word “crash.” MADD does not use the word “accident” when referring to drunk or drugged driving, because it’s a choice, a violent...
MADD revises its mission in 1985: To mobilize victims and their allies to establish the public conviction that impaired driving is unacceptable and criminal, in order to promote corresponding public policies, programs and personal responsibility.
In July of 1984, MADD makes a conscious and deliberate decision to change its name from Mothers Against Drunk Drivers to Mothers Against Drunk Driving… to signal that the organization is against the action, not...
A major milestone happened on July 17, 1984… the 21 minimum drinking age is signed into Federal law. President Ronald Reagan, known for “states’ rights” said in his remarks that day, “this problem is bigger...
The MADD National Office moves from California to Texas to be located in the middle of the country and near a good airport. At the office grand opening in Hurst of September 1983, then-Democratic House...
In the spring of 1983, NBC aired a made-for-TV movie called “The Candy Lightner Story,” which bolstered attention of the issue.
President Ronald Reagan created the Presidential Commission on Drunk Driving on April 14, 1982. MADD was a member of the Commission. That same year, a significant piece of legislation passed, The Howard-Barnes Alcohol Traffic Safety...
In 1981 MADD exploded nationwide as volunteers picked up picket signs and marched in front of state capitols to get new drunk driving laws passed.