MADD Preisdent pushes Iowa legislature to change drunk driving law

The national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving is in Iowa today, starting a weeklong tour of the state to promote tougher regulations on alcohol. Millie Webb will hold a joint news conference with Governor Vilsack in Des Moines this morning.Webb, who lives in Tennessee, says she’ll also visit Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque and Davenport this week to hold town hall meetings and MADD chapter meetings. Though the effort has failed in recent years, Webb is hopeful Iowa legislators will enact a law this year lowering the legal blood/alcohol limit from point-one to point-zero-eight.In addition to seeing the lowering of the blood/alcohol levels, Webb wants to see a beer keg registration law enacted in Iowa.In 1999, there were 160 Iowans killed in alcohol-related crashes, accounting for one-third of all fatal crashes statewide. That’s slightly below the national average, ranking Iowa 30th among the 50 states for drunk driving deaths.