Drunken-Driving Deaths On The Rise Again

Only One State Fails MADD's Grading

A report says the number of drunken-driving deaths in the United States rose last year after holding steady during most of the 1990s.

DRUNKEN DRIVING Are Sobriety Checkpoints Effective? Change Drinking Age? Calculate: Are You Drunk? RESOURCES Insurance Institute for Highway Safety National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

The president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving blamed the increase on complacency.

Wendy Hamilton said about 300 people are being killed each week in the United States in "completely preventable crashes."

The statistics were part of MADD's "Rating the States" report, in which the advocacy group graded each state and the nation as a whole on efforts to stop drunken driving.

The nation earned a C, down from 1999's C-plus, but the same as the grade earned in 1996.

California earned the highest mark, a B-plus, while Montana was the only state to flunk. (Click here for state-by-state grades.)

The group said on its Web site that alcohol-related traffic deaths have dropped 40 percent since MADD's founding in 1980.

Copyright 2002 by NewsNet5.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.