Who came up with the Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD, name?”
In May 1980, 13-year-old Cari Lightner was killed by a drunk driver as she walked on the sidewalk in her suburban Sacramento neighborhood. The driver, Clarence William Busch, did not stop, but when he was apprehended he was found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.20 percent–and previous drunk-driving convictions. He was, in fact, out on bail for a similar hit-and-run. Cari Lightner left behind two sisters, one of them her twin. The Lightners’ story was horrifying but not unique–there were 27,000 alcohol-related traffic fatalities in the United States that year, 2,500 of them in California. However, in this case, the girl’s mother, Candace Lightner, a real estate agent, used her grief to fuel a new grassroots organization dedicated to reshaping the public’s perception of drunk driving. The name of the new group and the date of incorporation were borrowed from family members. Her sister suggested calling the group Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, or MADD. The Guardian of Manchester, Eng
