Five Questions With: Eric Creamer

"Our volunteers are invaluable to us in helping to assist in our mission to stop drunk driving."

Eric Creamer of South Kingstown joined Mothers Against Drunk Driving Rhode Island in January as executive director after serving as senior service area director of Narragansett Council, Boy Scouts of America since 2006. He also was a former reporter at the Westerly Sun and other publications. Here, he discusses the impact of MADD RI’s work and how he plans to guide the nonprofit.

PBN: What are the most recent statistics for drunk driving in Rhode Island?
CREAMER:
For the most recent complete data that we have received from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is from 2013, there were 24 deaths associated with impaired drivers out of 65 traffic fatalities. That compares to 28 deaths out of 64, which is a decrease of 14 percent. Although the rate is lower than the previous year, our state has the seventh highest rate across the country.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving advocates for legislation and programs to help strengthen law enforcement initiatives as well as provide educational programming and support to ensure that the public is aware of the dangers of drinking while impaired.

PBN: MADD has had prominence nationally for a long time. When did Rhode Island get involved?
CREAMER
: The Rhode Island chapter of MADD officially started on May 6, 1983. It has been effectively active for a long time for advocating for legislation to help make our roads and citizens safer, providing victim services for those in need, whether it is support or assistance through the court and legal processes, and engaging in youth and adult education programs.
Last year, the General Assembly passed an ignition interlock law where a repeat offender or someone who is charged with a .15 BAC or higher is required to have an ignition interlock installed in their vehicle, which was an initiative MADD had been advocating for a long time. Many states have an all-encompassing law that applies to those who are first time offenders over the .08 limit, which is something the organization would look to strive for.

PBN: Is distracted driving on your radar?
CREAMER
: MADD is a member of the Traffic Safety Coalition, which has deemed distracted driving, which includes the use of hand-held phones, as one of its top priorities this year to address. That coalition includes many community and government partners that we rely on and have a strong relationship with.

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PBN: As new executive director, what are some of your top priorities for MADD Rhode Island?
CREAMER
: Although sobriety checkpoints are not able to be done in Rhode Island, nationally it is one of the primary ways for law enforcement to protect the public from drunk drivers. We will continue to partner and support law enforcement in their attempts to identify and charge impaired drivers, while other initiatives such as strengthening child endangerment laws, further supporting no-refusal activities by law enforcement and pursuing administrative license revocation are key pillars in MADD’s Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving.
We just changed our organizational mission to include drugged driving, which is a growing problem nationally, but we don’t know the scope of the issue. We will need to continue to research and collect more data in order to help come up with solutions. The amount of impairment of a driver varies by drug, whether it is an illicit substance or a prescription drug. The best way to prevent substance impaired driving is to continue more drunk driving prevention enforcement.

PBN: How do you leverage the contribution of your volunteers?
CREAMER
: We have 75 volunteers that are continuously involved throughout the year with a variety of programs and events, such as adult and parent advisors for our Teen Spirit and Youth in Action programs, our Board of Directors, our committees for our golf tournament in the spring, our Law Enforcement Recognition dinner, our bowling tournament, law enforcement and adult trainings, plus more.
Our volunteers are invaluable to us in helping to assist in our mission to stop drunk driving. With all of the options available at our fingertips today, such as using mass transit, taxis, ridesharing services such as Uber, or designating a sober driver, there is no excuse to be driving while impaired.

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