SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Mothers Against Drunk Driving Sacramento tells ABC10 Elk Grove Police Officer Tyler Lenehan had just volunteered at one of their DUI checkpoints working to get offenders off the streets.
Lenehan was killed in a suspected DUI incident Friday morning.
“I have pictures that I took on my cellphone of my Mom with Officer Lenehan handing literature to people at a drunk driving checkpoint," said Rhonda Campbell with Mothers Against Drunk Driving. "My mom is sitting right here listening, and she’s crying. It’s awful.”
Campbell said there are more than 350 deaths a day here in the United States because of wrong-way crashes.
“But the other side of that statistic is 58% of wrong-way drivers are impaired,” she said.
That’s why she’s pushing a bill that would ensure all DUI offenders — including first-timers — be required to install interlock devices like breathing devices in their cars to prevent them from driving drunk. According to her, the current law doesn't apply for first-time offenders.
“We know we’ll save lives by requiring all convicted impaired drivers to have that device in their car,” Campbell said.
As that works it’s way through the state legislature, Campbell said the recently signed federal infrastructure bill includes language that would require anti-drunk driving technology in all new cars beginning in 2026.
“Equipment that will be able to detect impaired driving and shut that down and protect people. That really could be the beginning of the end of impaired driving when that technology takes hold,” she said.
Campbell said she only wishes we had these tools today, perhaps they would have prevented yet another tragedy.
"It just really makes it personal and brings it home, and it’s heartbreaking," she said.
