{"id":2967,"date":"2008-03-12T12:57:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-12T18:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/03\/new-alcohol-fatality-rankings-may-reveal-cultural-shift\/"},"modified":"2009-08-22T14:47:18","modified_gmt":"2009-08-22T20:47:18","slug":"new-alcohol-fatality-rankings-may-reveal-cultural-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/03\/new-alcohol-fatality-rankings-may-reveal-cultural-shift\/","title":{"rendered":"New alcohol-fatality rankings may reveal cultural shift"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>, led by Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a>, has made a concerted, multifaceted effort in recent years to combat drunken driving, a scourge that has always afflicted the state. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Last week, the state received its first real confirmation that its efforts are paying off.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In 2006, for the first time, New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place> wasn\u2019t among the 10 worst states in drunken-driving and other alcohol-related deaths on its roads, according to rankings released last week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration<\/a>. New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> had the 17th-highest rate of drunken-driving deaths in 2006 \u2013 deaths involving people with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 or higher \u2013 and ranked 14th in overall alcohol-related fatalities on its roads.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> had the highest rate of alcohol-related fatalities in the nation in 1982 and has competed for that distinction every year since. In 2000, drunken driving was the leading cause of injury and death for New Mexicans between the ages of 1 and 44.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Preliminary numbers indicate that New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> might have improved even more in 2007, with 176 alcohol-related fatalities on its roads compared to 191 in 2006.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

How did it happen?<\/p>\n

Terry Huertaz, executive director of New Mexico<\/st1:state>\u2019s Mothers Against Drunken Driving<\/a> chapter, praised Richardson<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> at a Friday news conference for his \u201ckitchen-sink approach.\u201d Though he certainly doesn\u2019t get all the credit, the governor has led an effort that has included:<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 tougher penalties for repeat DWI offenders.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 tougher penalties for bars and others who sell or provide alcohol to minors and intoxicated people.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 increased resources for sobriety checkpoints.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 mobilizing a special investigative team of the state\u2019s Liquor Control Board.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 requiring those convicted of drunken driving to have ignition interlock devices installed in their vehicles.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 a public-service campaign that included TV, radio and billboard messages, often delivered by Richardson himself.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 a \u201cDrunkBuster\u201d hotline motorists can call when they encounter suspected drunken drivers.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Shift leads to closing of Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> bars<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I grew up in New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place> and know its historic culture of tolerating alcohol abuse and drunken driving. I was 14 when a drunken Gordon House killed a woman and her three daughters on Christmas Eve in 1992 in a head-on collision on Interstate 40. He drove the wrong way for 12 miles before the crash.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

As a teen, I had friends whose family owned a bar, and they were allowed to access alcohol without even sneaking around. As a journalist, I covered in 2004 and 2005 the binge-drinking deaths of two New Mexico<\/st1:placename> State<\/st1:placetype> University<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> students.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Covering the death of Steven Judd<\/a>, who died after being served approximately 18 drinks at two Las Cruces<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> bars after midnight on his 21st birthday, helped me realize this was a problem at which the state needed to throw everything, including the kitchen sink. In my opinion Judd, his fraternity brothers who took him out to drink, the bar that served him most of the drinks and the university that allowed its Greek community to foster such a drinking tradition shared responsibility, if not legally, at least morally, for his death.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

When the state enacted the tougher penalties for serving minors and intoxicated people \u2013 in part a response to Judd\u2019s death \u2013 four Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> bars closed rather than trying to adapt. The state is trying to shut down a fifth \u2013 the one where Judd drank most of what killed him on his birthday.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

And sixth Las Cruces<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> bar \u2013 one owned by state Sen. Mary Jane Garcia<\/a> \u2013 is in the process of being sold, Garcia told me last week. She\u2019s been in the business for a long time, and she said customers just aren\u2019t coming because they\u2019re afraid of the new, \u201cunfair\u201d regulations. So she\u2019s getting out of the business.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Garcia\u2019s bar was cited last year for serving an intoxicated person. Soon thereafter, more than 50 alcohol-industry representatives and several lawmakers attended a meeting in Mesilla called by Garcia, and there they ripped Richardson Administration officials for the enforcement of the new rules, which they called unfair.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think the new rules are unfair. The kitchen-sink approach puts the responsibility on everyone \u2013 those who drink too much, the bars that serve them and the state\u2019s citizens who spot suspected drunken drivers \u2013 to take an active role in changing a damaging culture in New Mexico.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The proof is in the pudding. For once, New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> is showing significant movement away from the top of one of the nation\u2019s worst lists. Let\u2019s hope it means that New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place> is finally making a cultural shift that has been needed for generations.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A version of this article was published today on the Diary of a Mad Voter<\/a> blog published by the Denver Post\u2019s Politics West<\/a> and the independent Web site NewWest.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Mexico, led by Gov. Bill Richardson, has made a concerted, multifaceted effort in recent years to combat drunken driving, a scourge that has always afflicted the state. Last week, the state received its first real confirmation that its efforts are paying off. In 2006, for the first time, New Mexico wasn\u2019t among the 10 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-haussamen-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2967\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}