South Carolina Criminal Defense Blog

DUI lawyer Lawrence Taylor points out some interesting facts at his DUI Blog. MADD has been advocating for ignition interlock devices for all vehicles for a few years now, and Taylor asks why?

We see that MADD's list of corporate donors is topped by automobile manufacturers, donating over $100,000 each, who have been designing cars equipped with ignition interlocks, possibly in anticipation of government bowing to MADD and passing a law requiring them:

Platinum - $100,000+
DialAmerica Marketing, Inc.
Nationwide Mutual Insurance
Nissan North America, Inc.
DaimlerChrysler Corporation
CarMax Foundation
General Motors Corporation

Gold - $50,000+
Johnson & Johnson
Procter & Gamble
Anonymous
Outside the Classroom

Silver- $25,000+
Charter One Bank
GE Motor Club
Volkswagen Of America, Inc.
Takata
Oreck Direct
Ford Motor Company
Maid Brigade
Canadian National Railway Company
BP West Coast Products LLC

Bronze - $10,000+
Coca-Cola North America
Anonymous
Harvey Industries
Smart Start
Takata
American International Automobile Dealers
Anonymous

Special Donors
BP Corporation North America Inc.
Innocorp, Ltd.

MADD is big money. Taylor points out that in 2006 (still the most recent statistics available on MADD's website) MADD received over $51 million in contributions, and received the lowest possible rating for "fundraising efficiency" - "the percentage of money raised that actually goes to the stated objectives rather than to salaries, overhead, etc."

I don't want to believe that I live in a society that would tolerate an ignition interlock device in every car, and I know that I would not purchase a car equipped with such a thing. It is frightening to think that people may agree to allow the government to monitor us every time we get into our own car, and more frightening to imagine, if we allowed that to happen, what will be next.