Guest Commentary: Why we choose to Walk Like MADD
For two years, the firm of Goldstein, Buckley, Cechman, Rice & Purtz has been a presenting sponsor for Mothers Against Drunk Driving’s Walk Like MADD 5k walk and run that raises money to ensure no one in our community suffers from the impacts of impaired drivers.
Funds raised through Walk Like MADD events across the country have saved 350,000 lives and served 820,000 victims. The Southwest Florida event planned for Sept. 28 at JetBlue Park at Fenway South hopes to raise $60,000 to work toward having no more victims of drunk, drugged and impaired driving.
Because we see the impact of drunk driving through the clients we represent, we are strong advocates for this event and the efforts of MADD.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in three traffic deaths in the United States involve a drunk driver. MADD reports more than 300,00 incidents of drinking and driving a year, resulting in one preventable death every 52 minutes across the United States. Additionally, 290,000 people are injured by impaired drivers each year, one every two minutes. Nationally on average, two out of three people will be impacted by drunk driving in their lifetime.
What is so startling about these statistics is that these deaths and injuries are totally preventable!
Firm partners Christopher and Andrea Smith are passionate personal supporters of MADD, with Christopher leading the firm’s team fundraising efforts for the walk. Both Christopher and Andrea have lost family members to drunken drivers. In fact, Christopher was named after a family member who was killed by an impaired driver.
Attorneys from the firm have also been active in supporting area multi-jurisdiction DUI checkpoints, most recently providing food for the law enforcement officers for Saturation Saturday Aug. 24, an enhanced DUI enforcement carried out by law enforcement agencies in Lee and Charlotte County and sponsored by MADD Southwest Florida.
Providing food for the briefing dinner before the checkpoint demonstrates to the officers that the law firm and the community supports them in their dedication to make our community safer for all residents and visitors.
We’d love for you to join us in supporting this important event. Walk like MADD will be at JetBlue Park at Fenway South Sept. 28. For information or to sign up to participate or support a team: visit madd.org/southwest-florida/ or call 239-791-7560.
Michael Versnik is a personal injury trial attorney at Goldstein, Buckley, Cechman, Rice & Purtz, P.A. who focuses on motor vehicle accidents, wrongful death, motorcycle and bicycle accident and premises liability cases.