A drunken driver killed my daughter. Tech can save others

I see life differently since a drunken driver killed my daughter Nikki in 2004. It was nearly 20 years ago, but it feels like yesterday.

If you’ve ever lost a loved one in an impaired driving crash, you have an inkling of the anger and utter emptiness I still feel. No mother should lose a daughter like I did. Part of myself was buried with Nikki.

I can’t turn back time to save my daughter, but I can give families out there hope that advanced auto safety technology will stop the scourge of impaired driving.

That technology is required by the HALT drunken driving Act, a provision in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed by Congress and signed into law in November 2021. Thanks to that law, every new car could come equipped with advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology as early as 2026.

Research shows this law can save 10,100 lives each year, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and thankfully, my courageous Congressman Zack Nunn recently voted to defend the law against misguided attempts to defund it.

Losing Nikki didn’t just break my heart, it broke my life. But despite the daily pain, I keep fighting because we desperately need allies to protect the HALT Act.

Congress directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to complete its drunken driving prevention technology rule making by Nov. 15, 2024. We are now one step closer to getting this lifesaving technology in all new cars because, on Dec. 12, the administration issued a call for public comments to inform the agency’s approach to developing a safety standard for the technology. This milestone was the agency’s first significant step toward ensuring all new cars will be equipped with passive technology.

I will be forever grateful for a future with impaired driving prevention technology on all cars, and I’m sure the many victims and survivors across Iowa and the nation agree.

Every 79 seconds, someone in the U.S. is killed or injured by an impaired driver. We've witnessed a staggering 35% surge in drunken driving fatalities over the past decade. Impaired driving has increased by 14% two years in a row and has caused 13,000 deaths for the first time since 2007. These deaths are 100% preventable. If impaired driving prevention technology had been in the vehicle of the man who killed my Nikki, she’d still be with me today.

But this is not just a problem to be solved by people who have been impacted by impaired driving. This is a public health concern for all road travelers, and every Iowa citizen can help. Always choose a safe ride home before consuming alcohol or other impairing substances. In addition, tell elected officials in Congress to support passive technology on all new cars and urge NHTSA to meet the Nov. 15 deadline to set a lifesaving safety standard. Working together, we can save thousands of people from a terrible and preventable fate.

Linda Chapman is the mother of Nicole (Nikki) Chapman who was killed by a drunken driver.