Mothers Against Drunk Driving continuously tries to increase public awareness about the number of lives lost on our highways by the senseless act of drunken driving. Yet, more than 60 people are still killed in Hawai'i each year in alcohol-related traffic crashes.

The American public and some of its leaders have become complacent about the issue of impaired driving but now there is an opportunity to turn the tide on driving under the influence and reduce every state's highway death toll.

A multibillion-dollar highway bill pending in Congress contains an impaired-driving section that could have a profound impact on the number of lives saved and injuries prevented in the next six years.

There are two versions of the highway bill. The Senate recently passed its version — a rather remarkable display of support of anti-drunken-driving efforts. Special emphasis is placed on programs to address the problem of high-risk drivers: those with high blood alcohol concentrations (BAC); those driving on suspended or revoked licenses resulting from a prior DUI, and repeat DUI offenders. The House's version is far less progressive.

MADD supports the Senate version because we believe it will save the most lives and close the revolving door on high-risk drunken drivers.

Hawai'i's Sen. Dan Inouye is one of four key members of the congressional conference committee that is currently involved in reconciling the Senate and House versions of this critical bill. Inouye and other congressional conferees have an opportunity to make a defining mark on traffic safety locally and nationally by taking decisive action to protect American lives.

This measure will significantly impact Hawai'i, where we still lack some of the laws and resources to adequately address the carnage on our highways. Hawai'i needs laws to more effectively address the issue of those driving with a BAC of .15 or higher and those driving on a suspended or revoked license.

The Senate-proposed higher-risk driver provision offers a comprehensive solution targeting repeat offenders, a dangerous-driving segment of our population. But for the first time ever, the highway-safety section of the highway bill also includes two additional categories of high-risk drivers: high blood alcohol concentration drivers, those who drive at levels nearly double the illegal BAC limit of .08 and who pose a deadly threat to innocent motorists and pedestrians; and drivers who continue to operate a vehicle after losing their licenses because of a prior impaired-driving offense.

The inclusion of high BAC drivers is critical. Research shows these drivers are more than 380 times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than a sober driver. More than half of all alcohol-related deaths involve drivers with a BAC of .15 or higher. In 2003 across our state, nearly 40 percent of alcohol-related fatalities involved a high-BAC driver.

In 1997, James Steinseifer was driving in Kapolei with a BAC of .36, the equivalent of 14 beers. He killed sisters Nicole Nu'uanu-Dudoit and Carina Nu'uanu and their niece, 1-year-old La'akea Nu'uanu. Steinseifer had a prior conviction of drunken driving in 1985, making him a repeat offender as well as a high-BAC driver. Unfortunately, this story is all too common. These needless, senseless deaths — caused by irresponsible drivers — are all tragic. They should all be subject to the same set of penalties along with mandated treatment.

Through the pending highway bill, we face an invaluable opportunity to set an important strategic national policy. This policy will direct the country to embrace effective traffic-safety countermeasures by providing states with much-needed resources to combat alcohol and other drug-impaired driving for the remainder of this decade.

Over the past 20 years, several lifesaving laws have been passed in all 50 states as a result of a federal directive similar to the federal highway bill before lawmakers today. Examples include the 21 minimum drinking age, which saves nearly 1,000 lives a year, and the 0.8 percent BAC, which saves about 500 lives a year. Higher-risk driver legislation needs to be added to that list. The last thing we need is a corps of "expert" drunken drivers endangering everyone on our roadways.

So MADD raises the question to the highway bill conferees: Is the national status quo of 17,000 — nearly half the population of Kane'ohe — alcohol-related traffic deaths and half a million injuries acceptable to Congress and this country? On behalf of all those victims, survivors and their loved ones, we emphatically say "No." It is time to do the right thing and address the most deadly and dangerous drivers on our roadways with comprehensive, proven solutions to protect our communities. It is time to make sure that the Senate higher-risk driver provision in the highway safety bill is retained and that the senseless problem of drunken driving that costs our nation $114 billion annually is aggressively addressed.

Readers can go to www .madd.org/activism to learn how they can make a difference.

Carol McNamee is founder of MADD-Hawai'i and Theresa Paulette Winn is a board member of the national MADD.