MADD ad: Drunken drivers have killed 'too many princesses'

September 11, 1997
Web posted at: 11:05 p.m. EDT (0305 GMT)

DALLAS (CNN) -- A group that campaigns against drunken driving is using the death of Britain's Princess Diana as a "wake-up call to Americans" about the loss of lives caused by intoxicated motorists.

Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, or MADD, has created a print public service announcement that could soon appear in newspapers and magazines around the United States that declares: "We've seen too many princesses die."

Below that headline are the names of 119 daughters of MADD members, "princesses" who were killed in wrecks involving drunken drivers.

The 120th name on the list is Diana, Princess of Wales.

The 36-year-old princess was killed, along with her companion, Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul, in a Paris car crash that occurred as their speeding car was being followed by photographers on motorcycles.

Tests showed that Paul's blood-alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit in France, and that he had two prescription drugs in his bloodstream.

The other half of MADD's two-page ad says:

"On August 31, 1997, the world was victimized by another drunk driver.

"Mothers Against Drunk Driving mourns the loss of Princess Diana as well as the other estimated 250 victims killed in our country over Labor Day weekend.

"Isn't it time we say enough is enough?"

MADD National President Katherine Prescott said that an estimated 250 to 350 people were killed and thousands more injured in alcohol-related crashes on U.S. roads over Labor Day weekend, the same weekend Diana was killed.

"Although Diana's crash -- like virtually all fatal alcohol-related crashes -- involved many unsafe, contributing factors, the most deadly factor was a drunk driver careening out of control and ultimately robbing the world of 'the people's princess,'" Prescott said.

"Every day in our country, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, friends and neighbors are losing their 'princesses' or 'princes' to the irresponsible acts of drunk drivers."

MADD has sent the ad to 150 newspapers in major markets and 50 magazines with the hope that it will be published without charge.

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A Nation Mourns: As the world looks on, Britain buries a princess The Death of Princess Diana: Coverage of the accident, the investigation, and global reaction

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• MADD Online

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