I’m fed up with DWI fatalities
Im a resident of Central AR and I am just completely flabbergasted about the two DWI crashes in Maumelle within four days. Two businesses had cars plow into them by drunk drivers in four days, like a mile apart????? that’s insane!!
Also folks don’t really have many alternative and not saying those two drivers didn’t have other options, but I am fed up with the only plan coming from local leaders is to punish people after they’ve already done the harm. There needs to be more preventative planning. I just sent this email off and if you have a sec, yall should copy it and send it to the emails: Ricky.hill@senate.ar.gov jane.english@senate.ar.gov Bridget.white@asp.arkansas.gov chip.payne@asp.arkansas.gov
I work in local government and most of our work and capital improvement projects are complain based so folks don’t shy away from submitting complaints!
Hello all,
I am writing because I am deeply frustrated by the response we continue to give people to the problem of impaired driving: don’t drive drunk. Of course. But what are we actually offering people as an alternative?
This week, two vehicles driven by intoxicated drivers crashed into restaurants along Highway 365 in Maumelle. One person was killed. I am not writing to assign blame for either crash. I am writing because these incidents should force us to ask a more uncomfortable question about how we are approaching impaired driving prevention in Arkansas.
If someone in Maumelle has been drinking and knows they should not drive, their options are extremely limited. There is no public transportation serving Maumelle. A rideshare home can easily cost $50 or more. For a lot of people, that is not a minor inconvenience. It is enough money to make getting behind the wheel seem like the more practical option.
We cannot keep treating impaired driving as an individual decision while ignoring the transportation system surrounding that decision.
And this is not just about drinking. Local restaurants, bars, breweries and other businesses want people to come spend money in their communities. People want places where they can meet friends, have dinner, have a drink, see live music and be merry. We should be building communities where people can do those things without having to get behind the wheel afterward.
Reliable transportation is economic infrastructure, too. If a restaurant owner can attract customers from across a community but those customers have to choose between paying an expensive rideshare fare or driving themselves home, that limits what that business can realistically offer. Safe, affordable transportation can give people more freedom to spend an evening in a local business and get home safely afterward.
I understand that public transportation alone is not going to eliminate drunk driving, and I am not suggesting that these particular crashes could have been prevented by a bus route. But if Arkansas is serious about reducing impaired driving, we should be willing to invest in transportation options that make the safe choice an actually available choice.
That could mean expanding transit to communities that currently have none. It could mean supporting late-night service. It could mean using highway safety funding to help communities establish affordable safe-ride programs that operate when people actually need them. There are probably several ways to approach it. What concerns me is that I do not see the same urgency around creating those alternatives that I see around telling people to simply make better choices.
I would like to see the Arkansas Highway Safety Office take a more serious look at transportation access as part of its impaired-driving prevention strategy. I would also like to see the state examine whether existing highway safety and transportation funding can be used to support affordable, reliable alternatives to driving after drinking.
People should absolutely be held accountable for getting behind the wheel while intoxicated. But prevention should not end with telling people what they should not do. We should also make it possible for them to do something else. And doing so could make Arkansas communities safer while also helping the local businesses that give people a reason to get out and participate in them.
Arkansas has spent decades building a transportation system around the assumption that everyone can and will drive. That assumption has consequences. These crashes are a reminder that those consequences can be deadly.
I hope your office will consider this as part of Arkansas' broader approach to impaired driving and highway safety. I would appreciate knowing whether the Highway Safety Office is currently considering public transportation, late-night transit, or subsidized safe-ride programs as part of its impaired-driving prevention efforts, and if not, why not.
Thank you for your time,
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