As reported here and elsewhere a terrible tragedy occurred on Friday night, September 11th, at the corner of 10th Street and Redondo Avenue.
Tiny Kaylee Alvarez, just 1year old, was violently killed when the wagon she -along with her 2 year old brother Oscar- was being pulled in by her parents, was struck by Neely Lejon Dinkins, 33, of Long Beach, who was driving a Dodge Durango at the time. Miraculously, Oscar survived. Tiny Kaylee, however, did not.
Dinkins fled the scene but was eventually located, arrested and has now been charged with various offences including second degree murder, felony driving under the influence, felony hit-and-run and driving on a suspended license. He’s being held on $1.3 million dollars bail. If convicted, Dinkins could spend the rest of his life in prison.
For little Kaylee, however, life ended that evening as her parents were made to watch in horror.
Much has now been written and no doubt more will be, here and elsewhere, concerning the facts of this horrific collision, and its aftermath, and it’s not my intent to iterate the comments of others.
When I first learned of and realized the true scope of this terrible tragedy, I was immediately reminded of lyrics from the song “Fragile”, released by Sting in 1987:
“If blood will flow, and flesh and steel are one, drying in the colors of the evening sun, tomorrow’s rain will wash the stains away, but something in our minds will always stay”
“On and on the rain will fall, like tears from a star, like tears from a star. On and on, the rain will say ‘how fragile we are, how fragile we are…”
I’m a big picture sort of fellow. Whenever I can I like to try to get to the heart of issues, especially public health and safety issues, and work collaboratively with others to seek long term solutions to them since that’s part of what I do for a living.
Fatality traffic collisions involving DUI are horrific, no question. The tolls they take upon the persons and families involved as well as the communities in which they occur are tremendous, all the more so for being so very avoidable. But once such a tragedy has occurred, our collective consciousness is focused for a time upon it and those involved in it. And it should be. As a community we are given an opportunity, however sad and however much we would rather we hadn’t, to consider the true costs of a public safety challenge as difficult and as prevalent as driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
According to findings by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released just last month; the number of alcohol-impaired drivers involved in fatal crashes has actually decreased between 2007 and 2008 in the United States overall as well as in California. Even while this news can be considered hopeful, the numbers themselves are still, at least for me, staggering:
• In 2007 55,237 alcohol-impaired drivers were involved in fatal crashes throughout the U.S. 5,379 of them were in California – more, by the way, than any other State (Texas was second with 4,628)
• By contrast, in 2008 the number of alcohol-impaired drivers involved in fatal crashes throughout the U.S. dropped by a little over 10% to 49,449, with 4,584 of them in California – still the most of all other States, but only barely (Texas remained an extremely close second, with 4,491).
I don’t know about you, but these numbers almost leave me speechless. Here are some others, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that are equally alarming to me:
• Every day, 36 people in the United States die, and approximately 700 more are injured, in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver
• The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $51 billion
• In 2006, 13,470 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (32%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States
• In 2007, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. That’s less than one percent of the 159 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year
• Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. These other drugs are generally used in combination with alcohol
• Half of the 306 child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-related crashes in 2006 were riding with drivers who had a BAC level of .08 or higher
• In 2006, 45 children age 14 years and younger who were killed as pedestrians or bicyclists were hit by alcohol-impaired drivers
But what can we do; we who do not have our licenses suspended and drive anyway; we who do not drive while under the influence of alcohol or drugs; we who are not involved in collisions and then flee from the scene, failing to check on the welfare of others involved?
How can we, individually and as a community, help combat drunk driving right now and right here in our own community?
I’m so glad you asked!
In researching this column I learned of an upcoming fund-raising event for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) that will be held on Saturday, September 26th, 2009, commencing at 8:30am at the Queen Mary Events Park right here in Long Beach.
According to the event website, MADD’s signature annual fund raising event “Walk like MADD” (formerly called “Strides for Change”) “is a fun, community-driven 5K walk that raises funds and saves lives. Every step taken and pledge made will help raise funds and awareness for MADD’s programs and services that will serve to make our communities safer.”
The event also includes a free Health and Safety Fair at the events park (located between the Queen Mary and the Reef Restaurant) that will include many educational displays and activities. So, if nothing else, please visit the event as a spectator, learn more about this difficult public health and safety challenge and cheer on those who will be walking to raise funds to combat drunk driving and to assist its victims.
Please visit the linked website and read more about this great event and what the tax-deductible funds you and others raise can do to help MADD-LA address this challenge in our own local area.
On their site, you can: become a walker, donate to a walker, form a new team or join an existing team. (Hint: Many of the teams that will be gathering and walking at the Queen Mary on September 26th have been formed to honor the memory of victims of drunk driving). You can download resources to help you and your team to prepare for the walk, you can invite others to join you and you can view a list of walkers and Teams that will be participating and how much they have pledged so far in support.
As of this writing, MADD has raised $64,136.25 in donations and pledges toward their event goal of $80,000 to support their various programs and services. They’re very close to their fundraising goal and your participation can help them to meet or even exceed it!
Would you like to participate but don’t want to walk? You can register as a “virtual walker”. Would you like to help but have no funds to donate? That’s fine too. MADD will gratefully accept a donation of your time. If you’re 14 or older, you can volunteer to help staff the event. MADD needs volunteer help with the many pre-event, day of and post-event support activities required to help make “Walk like MADD” a success.
So now you know what you can do, in just a couple of weeks, right here in Long Beach, to help combat drunk driving and support the victims of drink driving from our own community. Please share this information with everyone you know so that neither Kaylee’s death, nor that of any other person senselessly killed by a drunk driver, need be in vain.
I very much welcome your questions and your comments!