I was an Air Force brat who lived in numerous countries, traveled a great deal, and went to numerous schools. I have lived in Guam, France, Germany, and Japan and travelled to more than 21 different countries. My mother was Lebanese and my father was from Kentucky. I am a Third Culture kid. I lived the longest in Sacramento and attended St. Mary’s Catholic School where I started a junior order of the nuns who taught there. I was always big on organizing things. School was interesting. I excelled in Latin and intensely disliked geometry. I loved working on the yearbook and always saw myself becoming a writer. My home was typical of a military brat and we lived on bases more than in civilian communities. I loved experiencing different cultures and strongly support diversity. I also believe that my background helped me deal with my daughter’s death and start an organization. My father said I was always rebellious and that may be why I started MADD.

My 13-year-old twin daughter, Cari, was killed in a hit and run drunk driving crime by a multiple repeat offender drunk driver who was out on bail from another hit and run drunk driving crime. I wanted to make sure this didn’t happen to someone else. Read this History.com article to learn more about it here, this People Magazine article and this article from The Los Angeles Times.

When I learned the man who killed my daughter probably would not spend any time in jail, much less prison and how it was not considered a serious crime.

Candy Lightner founded one of the country's largest activist organizations, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, after her daughter died in a drunk driving accident.

Synopsis
Born in 1946, activist Candy Lightner spent her early life in California. She went to American River College in Sacramento and later married Steve Lightner.

Read more about it here.

Incredibly difficult. I was grieving for my daughter, trying to earn a living and dealing with a socially acceptable crime that everybody committed including my friends and neighbors. Plus, I had never started a non- profit before. I was a mother and a real estate agent.

There were no government officials that helped create MADD but there were some who were very supportive, including Steve Blankenship from the California Attorney General’s office, Spike Helmick from the California Highway patrol and Jim Fell from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Office.

I grieved like most other people do. The only thing I didn’t do was grieve in public, except once. I don’t think you handle grief. I think grief is too overwhelming to handle. I just tried to get through each day, one day at a time. Some people did treat me differently. Many of my friends seemed uncomfortable and that may be because they drank and drove. They are no longer my friends. A few did not and they are still my friends. I co-wrote a book about grief, entitle, Giving Sorrow Words: How to Cope with Grief and Get on With Your Life that is a sharing of stories of people whose loved ones died. I also talk my mourning and that of Cari’s brother and sister.

Not much. Thanks to the media attention we received he was sentenced to two years in prison but went to a halfway house instead where he drove his car to and from work and went home on the weekends. He still had a valid California Driver’s license. He was out after 16 months and promptly hit another woman while drinking and driving. Read the People Magazine article about it and Los Angeles Times article.

I did and yet they didn’t in the beginning. It took a long while before we had people on our side and wanting to help. Most people don’t realize that. We also had to deal with people who just wanted to share in the glory once we became a household name. Read more about it here.

We had a national press conference in Sacramento, California announcing the organization in August of 1980 and we also had started a petition drive asking the California Governor to launch a task force on drunk driving. The media was there and I think the fact that we had just had the worst drunk driving crash in California history the week before probably made a difference. If I remember correctly, nine people were killed including 7 members of one family. (or it was 7 people killed including 5 members of one family) I then went to Washington DC and marched on the White House and asked the President to form a National Commission against drunk driving. So, at first the media was very receptive. After that I had to go visit them in their offices to get their attention. After we started chapters, the media in that state would pick up the story and we would then generate more media attention.

I appeared on the Merv Griffin Show on March 8, 1983.

Video courtesy of Reelin' In The Years Productions LLC

Briefly, we educated the legislators, media and the public, asked for a Presidential Commission to solve the drunk driving problem which was formed under President Reagan and one of the recommendations was to have uniform national drinking age bill. We met with congress members, encouraging them to pass the bill and created a great deal of literature on the subject which was handed out at every opportunity. We had numerous facts and statistics plus we had victim stories. We developed a map with what we called Blood Borders that we took everywhere that showed how young people were crossing over from one state to the other to drink, thereby killing themselves and others at the borders. Read this People Magazine article for more information.

I don’t know.

I do believe she would be alive and there would be fewer drunk driving crimes.

Cari’s twin sister, Serena was injured in a drunk driving crime when she was a toddler (we do not call them accidents, we call them crashes or crimes) When Cari was killed I learned that nothing was going to happen to the driver even though he was a multiple repeat offender and that made me very angry, so I decided to start MADD.

Only when it happened the first time and my mother was hit and both girls were in the car and Serena was injured. However, at that time I was a young struggling single parent of twins and due to my mother’s hospitalization, I had other priorities.

There is nothing to regret. I am credited with launching an organization that has saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

It is a problem all year long but we always place more emphasis on the issue during holidays, such as the fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Events such as prom, graduation, major sport’s events, Friday night happy hours, are also times when drinking and driving can be more of a problem.

Heartbreak and wondering what more I could do. Then I have to remind myself that even though I can’t make a difference with everyone, I have made a difference with many and those “many” no longer drink and drive.

We need to tighten loopholes and enforce the laws we already have. My biggest concerns right now are drugged and distracted driving that are still socially acceptable.

Educate, advocate and use social media and our volunteers to get our messages across.

Beats me. In many cases these are criminal abusers of the drug alcohol and people live in an age of denial. They think it couldn’t happen to them and passengers are too afraid to offend their friends so they risk their life instead. Dumb.

People support the designated driver program. They are also more inclined to call taxis or other transportation if they have had too much to drink. The penalties are more in line with the crime and the biggest change is that drunk driving is no longer socially acceptable. We would like to get everyone to support the Courage to Intervene because then we would really save lives!

Continued awareness about the seriousness of impaired driving, increased enforcement and enforcing the laws we already have plus implementing such programs as the 24/7 program, ignition interlocks (which should be on some people’s cars forever) and drug courts.

I think the biggest obstacle was the prevailing attitude that drunk driving was socially acceptable and not a crime. Everyone drank and drove, legislators did it, media it, comedians made jokes about it, etc. Another obstacle was that I was not taken very seriously in the beginning although that soon changed. However, those opposed to our mission tried to portray me as nothing more than a grief-stricken mother on a crusade. That was accurate but what they didn’t count on was that I also planned to succeed.

The first 4 years ending with the passage of the 21-year-old drinking age bill.

If you aren’t part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.

I don’t think enough is being done, but I think the solution lies in ongoing education, enforcing the laws we already have, tightening the loopholes and encouraging people to intervene when someone they know someone is going to drive irresponsibly.

Not a clue. I had never done anything like this before and I didn’t realize how serious the problem was or how socially acceptable drunk driving was until I started MADD. I was so caught up in my own grief and that of my family’s plus starting task forces around the country that I just didn’t have the time to think about impact.

Watch the movie trailer: Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, The Candy Lightner Story.
And Giving Sorrow Words: How to Cope with Grief and Get on with Your Life, co-written by me.
And MADD Founder Candace Lightner on Leadership and Creating Cultural Change
And A Grieving, Angry Mother Charges That Drunken Drivers Are Getting Away with Murder

Heavens no! I manage another non- profit that focuses on the 3 D’s, distracted, drugged and drunk driving, We Save Lives.

Simply put, I was burned out and I was spending more time dealing with board politics then the issue of saving lives.

I haven’t thought about it but it is certainly an issue that needs addressing.

I support all organizations who work on highway safety issues.

You can see our video ReflectionsfromInside.

I am the founder and current President.

We Save Lives is an international partner organization that focuses on the 3 D’s, drunk, drugged and distracted driving. We believe that drunk driving is a multi-faceted crime deserving multi-faceted solutions, not just one. We are very concerned that drugged driving is a growing threat on our highways and deserves far more attention and legislative action then it is getting. We also believe that we need to unite in our efforts to stop distracted driving and that is what We Save Lives provides, the opportunity to unite on highway safety issues and increase our impact.