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Families of victims to drunk driving gather in Washington DC, calling for action from congress

By and FOX 2 Staff
Published  November 19, 2024 11:01pm EST
Detroit
FOX 2 Detroit

Honoring lives lost to drunk driving

The National Transportation Safety Board has called on automakers and the US Department of Transportation to make this a priority as families of those who lost someone at the hands of a drunk driver gathered in Washington DC.

WASHINGTON D.C. (FOX 2) - A rally was held Tuesday night outside the US Capitol lawn in Washington D.C. Members of congress along with the families of those who lost someone at the hands of a drunk driver, gathered with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, calling for congress to act to pass laws that stop a driver who is drunk from ever starting a car. 

Rana Abbas's life forever changed almost 6 years ago. Five members of her family were driving home to Dearborn when they were struck and killed by a drunk driver on I-75 in Lexington, Kentucky.

"My family was killed on Jan 6, 2019, not even a week after the new year," she said. "It's been six years and it doesn't get any easier."

Congresswoman Debbie Dingell says at the Abbas funeral it became clear what she needed to do.

"There were five, five of them that were active in the community," she said. "Rema was in access, her husband was a doctor. We knew everybody. And overnight, I mean everyone had a good holiday and a drunk driver wiped out this family and devastated this community. Children that went to school with the kids looked at me and said technology exists to keep this from happening. Why haven't you stopped it?"

Both Congresswomen Dingell and Rashida Talib worked with Abbas to get a law passed in congress. It was called ‘Halt,’ which requires all new cars to come equipped with tech that detects and stops impaired drivers from starting the vehicle. It was supposed to come into effect in 2026, giving time for regulations to be put in place. The candlelight rally in DC on Tuesday was designed to speed the process up.

"Every 78 secs someone is injured or killed by a drunk driver," Abbas said. "When we hear that we needed three years, and we might need another three more, what we hear is we need 30,000 more people to be killed, and we might need another 30,000 more people to be killed before were ready to put this technology that's available in vehicles and that is not okay."

The National Transportation Safety Board has called on automakers and the US Department of Transportation to make this a priority.