MADD Ranks N.M. 11th In Battling Drunk Driving

SANTA FE (AP) – New Mexico ranked 11th among the states in a progress report in the battle against drunken driving.

The report was issued by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

MADD says New Mexico has made tremendous progress from a decade ago.

State officials say MADD ranked states based on the percentage of total traffic fatalities involving an impaired driver.

Last year, 28 percent of New Mexico’s traffic fatalities involved drinking and driving.

MADD’s report also looked at sobriety checkpoints and efforts to pass ignition interlock laws.

New Mexico police agencies use sobriety checkpoints extensively — but MADD says eleven states don’t allow such checkpoints.

And MADD says five states lack interlock laws.