SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. – Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Initiates Saturation Saturday Ahead of Labor Day Weekend
As Labor Day weekend approaches, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) aims to make South Carolina roads safer by initiating Saturation Saturday, an event designed to prevent drunk driving. The Stokes family, who tragically lost a loved one to a drunk driving incident, strongly supports this initiative.
“I mean, I’m just angry. I still am. Not all of that has gone away, but I think it’s just because it didn’t have to happen,” said Mallory Stokes, expressing the frustration that fuels MADD’s efforts. The objective of Saturation Saturday is to have a night of increased law enforcement patrols and sobriety checkpoints to curb the number of drunk drivers.
Steven Burritt, the executive director of MADD South Carolina, explained the strategy behind the initiative. “When you put a lot of the blue lights out there and if you can create that perception of this is a town, this is an area where they’re going to find you if you’re DUI, just think how many bad decisions you prevented and therefore how many crashes and lives and injuries have been saved,” stated Burritt.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), sobriety checkpoints can reduce drunk driving deaths by 20%. “Let’s say we don’t stop an impaired driver, and they’re left to continue to drive down the road. They account for about 50% of the fatal collisions that take place on our roadways here in South Carolina,” mentioned Master Trooper Mitchell Ridgeway of the South Carolina Highway Patrol. Ridgeway noted that many offenders are repeat violators.
“If this is something that someone does on a regular basis, you need to learn from your mistake before you cost somebody their life or cost you your life because it’s not worth it,” Ridgeway emphasized. The goal is to inform people ahead of time so they make better decisions. “We don’t want anybody to have to be arrested for DUI, that’s why we put the message out. You know we want folks to know that we’re going to be out in twenty different locations,” Ridgeway added.
Hally Stokes, who lost her daughter Mia to a drunk driver, condemned the recklessness of impaired driving. “It is extremely selfish of people to continue to drink and drive or drive while impaired,” Hally remarked. Reflecting on their personal loss, she noted how naïve they were in thinking it wouldn’t happen to them. “Everybody else goes back to their lives and we have an empty space in our house, and we have an empty spot at our Christmas tree, every Christmas morning, and we have an empty chair at our table,” shared Hally. “We purposefully do not sit in the same spot at our table because we do not want Mia’s chair open all the time.“
As the holiday weekend nears, MADD and law enforcement hope their efforts will lead to better decision-making among drivers. The stakes are high, and the message is clear: stay sober or face the consequences.
