Until 1980, drunk drivers in the U.S. frequently got little more than a slap on the wrist.
On May 3,1980 a 13-year-old girl named Cari Lightner was walking to a church carnival when a drunk driver hit and killed her.
Cari’s mother, a 34-year-old woman named Candy Lightner, was appalled to learn that the repeat offender who was behind the wheel probably would face little consequence for the death he caused.
In her anger and grief, Candy Lightner formed a group which she dubbed Mothers Against Drunk Driving, often referred to simply as MADD. And it quickly grew into a powerful grassroots campaign to force states to stiffen the penalties for drunk or impaired driving.
MADD is perhaps the single biggest reason why you now need to be at least 21 to drink legally in every state. MADD claims it has cut drunk driving in half since its founding.
But there was trouble inside MADD. In 1985, Lightner was forced out, after tangling with the organization over what she saw as its increasing focus on bureaucracy.
But candy maintained her work as a victims advocate, and in 1990 she wrote a book about grief and death, called Giving Sorrow Words
So here now, from 1990, Candy Lightner.
Candy Lightner is now 78. She owns her own company, and serves as president of the non-profit We SAve Lives.