The Mission

On A Mission:

New Campaign Aimed at Eliminating

Drunk Driving

Every holiday public service announcements admonish individuals not to drink and drive, and every holiday someone puts too much alcohol on their holiday agenda, failing to heed the admonition. Inevitably, the scenes of drinking, driving and death play repeatedly on the evening news. Viewers look on, maybe say brief prayers for the victims and move on with their lives. Rarely does the news afford insight into the aftermath of the incident, how the family copes with the loss. The alcohol commercials do not take into account the suffering of the loved ones and how their lives are changed forever. They should see this side, how we grieve, the hurt, the tears and how we miss our loved ones, writes Dr. Prince A. Miles in his new book, He Was Our Prince. The story puts more than just a face on this selfish crime. It adds heart and soul as this father details his feelings about the loss of his 21-year-old son to a drunken driver a day after Christmas 2003.

Young Prince A. Miles II was leaving his father’s rental property in Detroit around 8 p.m. that evening when Willie Reed, a City of Detroit water department employee, slammed into him, fled the scene and left him for dead – all while ‘on the job’. Reed tried to cover-up his crime, but the co-worker riding with him in the city-owned van confessed everything to officials. Eventually, Reed admitted his crime and was sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison.

This incident was among the 442 alcohol/drug-related deaths in state that year, according to Michigan State Police reports. Every year some 17,000 people become victims of drinking and driving across the nation. Holidays, parties and drinking often go hand in hand, but rarely is drinking associated with working as in the Miles’ case. And if Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has its way, no longer will drinking be linked with driving.

Recently, the organization intensified its efforts with a new a campaign that they believe will eliminate drinking and driving altogether. MADD wants vehicles of every, first time DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol) offender equipped with an ignition interlock system that only starts the vehicle after the driver breathes into a breathalyzer to test the driver’s blood-alcohol content level. Drivers can be convicted of drunken driving when their blood-alcohol level is .08 and above; they are considered impaired at levels .02 to .08.

Since a pilot program of the mandatory ignition interlock system started August of last year in New Mexico, the drunk driving numbers are down, says Néchole McClendon, executive director of Wayne County’s MADD chapter. New Mexico was chosen because it tops the nation in drunken driving fatalities. New Mexico officials require the device for all DUI offenders.

Research indicates the devices get results. A year after implementing the new law in 2005, alcohol-related fatalities in New Mexico were down nearly 12 percent, report officials. Locally, a University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute study found that the ignition interlock systems had the lowest rate of future recidivism than other sanctions outlined in Michigan’s new repeat alcohol offender laws introduced in 1999. Currently in Michigan interlock systems are required only for habitual DUI offenders who are authorized a restricted license.

MADD is lobbying for legislation that would force nationwide use of the devices after the first DUI offense. Cost for installation and the monthly rental fee would be the offender’s expense.

Until mandatory interlock systems eliminate drunk driving, as MADD believes the devices will, the best weapon against drunk driving is the seatbelt, says McClendon. Michiganders should consider themselves fortunate to have seatbelt use a primary enforcement law, she contends. As such, police officers can stop vehicles based on seatbelt violation alone. Since the law became a primary violation in 2000, Michigan law enforcement officers saw the first sizable decline in drunk driving fatalities since the mid-1990’s. Should MADD’s efforts prevail, ignition interlock devices will become the nation’s best offense against drivers using vehicles as deadly weapons.

In the meantime, Dr. Miles is committed to keeping his son’s memory alive. Each year, he holds a vigil on the anniversary of his death. A large portrait of young Prince greets parishioners of the International Gospel Deliverance Center, where Dr. Miles pastors. And he recently released He Was Our Prince in his son’s honor. In his role as chaplain for Wayne and Oakland counties of MADD, Dr. Prince, a pastor, offers spiritual support to other victims and prays at events. “Whatever we ask, he and his wife Monica are always there,” says McClendon. As a grieving father crying out, I say that one tragedy due to drunk driving is one too many, he writes.

By Aundrea M. Bradford

Dr. Miles is available to speak or lecture to your group or at your event. If you need someone to speak with passion, power and conviction, you need look no further than author, speaker Dr. Prince A. Miles, Sr.

“One of God’s blessings and gifts are our children. We are never prepared for our children to precede us in death. While this senseless act of drunk driving took one of God’s precious creations, it forces us to stop and give thanks to God. We should treasure, love and protect our children. The life of Prince Miles II ended before his time but our time is in God’s control. We as mortals believe that his life ended too soon. This book tells...