MADD national president and Dane County executive to participate in town hall meeting on drunken driving Thursday August 14

August 12, 2008

Public is invited

To develop ways to combat the deadly threat of drunken driving, the public is invited to attend a town hall meeting on impaired driving issues on Thursday, August 14, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at the Middleton High School Performing Arts Center, 2100 Bristol St.

Participants and panelists at the town hall meeting will include Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) National President Laura Dean-Mooney, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, legislators, prosecutors, and law enforcement officers. Following the town hall meeting, there will be field demonstrations of ignition interlock devices and other equipment and strategies designed to prevent drunken driving (see agenda below).

The meeting is sponsored by MADD, the Wisconsin State Patrol Bureau of Transportation Safety, and the UW Law School Resource Center on Impaired Driving.

Drunken driving is prevalent and deadly in Wisconsin. A recent federal survey showed that Wisconsin has the highest rate of drunken driving in the nation. Last year, alcohol-related traffic crashes killed 337 people and injured more than 5,500 in Wisconsin.

For more information, contact:
Dennis Hughes, Wisconsin State Patrol Bureau of Transportation Safety
(608) 267-9075, dennis.hughes@dot.state.wi.us

Steve Olson, WisDOT Office of Public Affairs
(608) 261-5896, steve.olson@dot.state.wi.us

Town Hall Meeting-Impaired Driving in Wisconsin
Thursday, August 14, at Middleton HS Performing Arts Center

8:30 - 9:00 Meet & Greet

9:00 - 9:15 Welcome and opening remarks

• Wisconsin State Patrol Major Dan Lonsdorf, Director of the Bureau of Transportation Safety (BOTS)
• Jeffrey Michael, Acting Administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of Research and Program Development

9:15 - 10:00 Panel #1: Overview of Impaired Driving in Wisconsin

• Dennis Hughes, Chief of Safety Programs for the Bureau of Transportation Safety
• Dan Pechauer, State Farm Insurance Representative
• Dr. Stephen Hargarten, MD, Medical College of Wisconsin

10:00 - 10:15 Break

10:15 - 11:15 Panel #2: Impact, Actions and Options

• Kathleen Falk, Dane County Executive
• Sgt. William Brown, Supervisor of the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office - OWI Task Force
• David Wambach, Jefferson County District Attorney

11:15 - 12:00 Panel #3 Ignition Interlock Devices

• Mike Balgord, National Interlock
• Laura Dean-Mooney, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) National President

12:00 - 12:30 Open Forum - Questions from Audience

• Jeffrey Michael of NHTSA; Major Dan Lonsdorf of BOTS; MADD Wisconsin Director Kari Kinnard; and Tara Schipper of the UW Law School Resource Center on Impaired Driving will join panelists.

12:30 News conference, kick-off for the "Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest." law enforcement crackdown, ignition interlock device demonstration, and impaired driving simulator demonstration.