Little Leonardo Morales was killed on October 17, 1999 by Patrick Douglas Fortín. Fortín was very drunk when his vehicle slammed into the Morales family car while they were on their way to church. Although the boy was killed, Fortín has never been brought to justice.

The hopes and dreams of 13 teenagers were cut short on the afternoon of September 22 when a drunk driver rear-ended the Catholic Church's school bus as it carried the young people home from a spiritual retreat. The driver fled the scene and has never been found.

On the morning of January 21, 2002, Reinaldo Salgado was parked at the curb. He never saw it coming when a city bus, driven by a drunk driver, plowed into his parked car. Salgado's arm was seriously injured in the accident, and he has little hope of returning to his job as a mechanic or to his life as it once was. The driver went free thanks to the influence of the owner of the bus in interfering with standard police processes.

More recently, just this past Valentine's Day, Reina Méndez and Maria Luisa López were killed when a drunk driver ran over them on Boulevard Morazán with a large truck. Despite heavy media attention to the crime, the driver is still a fugitive from justice.

In the face of tragedies like these, the public is asking, how many people have to die before the government does something concrete to protect Honduran families from drunk drivers?

The lack of responsibility and conscientiousness on the part of the government has turned it into the perfect ally of those individuals who choose to drive on the nation's highways under the influence of alcohol.

It is hard for the Honduran population to understand why it is that, in the 21st century, Honduras still does not have a Transit Law that provides the means to help reduce the rising rates of death on the nation's highways, including measures to curb drunk driving.

Honduras is the only country in Central America without a Transit Law. Honduras only has a regulation to govern the transit sector, and that regulation was created without the customary connection to a pre-existing law.

The regulation was instituted in 1955 and is now out of date. In many experts' opinions, the roads have been left wide open to irresponsible drivers because the regulation does not mandate sufficient sanctions for unsafe driving practices.

In this context, the Law for the Penalization of Habitual Drunkenness is also relevant to the issue of drunk driving. The law was approved in 2000, but the Association for a more Just Society (AJS) is suggesting some changes to strengthen society's capacity to identify drunk drivers through the widespread use of breath alcohol testing and the utilization of those tests as legal evidence in court cases. As it stands now, only blood tests administered by Forensic Medicine officials can be used in court.

Anyone who wishes to become more involved in preventing more bloodshed on Honduras' roads should contact AJS to add your signature to a growing petition calling on the President of Congress, Profirio Lobo Sosa, to pass a Transit Law with these measures for the benefit of the Honduran people. The petition will be considered the voice of the people speaking out for change and demanding safety and security on the public roadways.

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