{"id":1653,"date":"2016-07-28T13:58:02","date_gmt":"2016-07-28T17:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rid-usa.org\/rid-usa-inc\/?p=1653"},"modified":"2021-04-27T20:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T00:00:00","slug":"doris-aiken-honored-in-forbes-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rid-usa.org\/rid-usa-inc\/2016\/07\/28\/doris-aiken-honored-in-forbes-magazine\/","title":{"rendered":"Doris Aiken Honored in Forbes Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"article-header ng-scope\">\n<div id=\"top-fbs-ad-article-sticky-0\" class=\"top-fbs-ad-sticky ng-scope ng-isolate-scope\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"header-meta-wrapper ng-scope\"><small class=\"article-meta\"> <time class=\"ng-binding\">Jul 27, 2016 @ 12:42 PM<\/time> <span class=\"view-count ng-scope\"><strong class=\"ng-binding\">232<\/strong> <span class=\"sub-line\">views<\/span><\/span> <a class=\"circ-link ng-binding ng-scope\" href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/29fF72b\" target=\"_self\" data-track=\"circ-link\" rel=\"noopener\">The Little Black Book of Billionaire Secrets<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n<div id=\"spon-logo-ad-article-0\" class=\"spon-logo-ad ng-scope ng-isolate-scope\"><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"article-headline ng-binding\">Drunk Driving&#8217;s Biggest Foe: Doris Aiken At 90<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"stream-body-container clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-top-sharing article-sharing ng-isolate-scope\" data-track=\"body-top\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body-content clearfix\">\n<div class=\"article-contrib-container\" data-track=\"article-contrib-container\">\n<div class=\"article-contrib-block \">\n<div class=\"contrib-preview\">\n<section class=\"contrib-author-container\">\n<div class=\"contrib-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/barronlerner\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/1.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fa9a61609bc21a58987a64ffc06a88b?s=400&amp;#038;d=mm&amp;#038;r=g\" alt=\"\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"contrib-byline ng-scope\">\n<p class=\"contrib-byline-author\"><a class=\"link ng-binding\" href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/barronlerner\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">Barron Lerner<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"contrib-byline-title ng-scope\"><span class=\"ng-binding ng-scope\">Contributor<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"contrib-tagline\"><span class=\"ng-binding ng-scope\">I&#8217;m a physician and medical historian at NYU, author of 5 books.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"short legal-disclaimer top ng-scope\">Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"contrib-group\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-text clearfix\">\n<div class=\"article-injected-body ng-scope\">\n<div id=\"attachment_131\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-131\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs-images.forbes.com\/barronlerner\/files\/2016\/07\/doris-1200x829.jpg\" alt=\"Doris Aiken, with then Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole. Courtesy of William Aiken.\" data-height=\"829\" data-width=\"1200\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Doris Aiken, with then Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole. Courtesy of William Aiken.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>When someone dies a preventable death, there is no obligation for loved ones to become activists, aiming to stop similar deaths. It is enough to merely grieve for a tragic loss.<\/p>\n<p>But some people turn their grief into action, devoting countless hours to educating the public and creating change. One such person in Doris Aiken, who turns 90 on July 31, 2016 and is now in her 39<sup>th<\/sup> year of activism to prevent drunk driving. Most amazingly, perhaps, is that Aiken barely knew the two teenagers whose deaths would change her life. I am honored to have met her when researching my book on the history of drunk driving, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/One-Road-Drunk-Driving-since\/dp\/1421401908?ie=UTF8&amp;ref_=asap_bc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">One for the Road<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Aiken was making dinner for her family on December 5, 1977 when she noticed a headline in the local Schenectady, New York newspaper. A drunk driver, with a blood alcohol level more than twice the legal limit and an open can of beer between his knees, had killed two local teenagers that Aiken knew distantly.<\/p>\n<p>As a journalist who hosted a television program that addressed pressing social issues, Aiken knew a good story. But when she began digging, what she discovered astounded her.<\/p>\n<p>The local district attorney chuckled when she asked him whether the driver would receive severe punishment. \u201cNo, we don\u2019t take away licenses or put people in jail,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-0-inread\" class=\"inread ng-isolate-scope inread-active\"><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThis is an accident,\u201d the D.A. added. \u201cHe didn\u2019t mean to do it and probably feels very bad about it.\u201d He advised Aiken not to get involved.<\/p>\n<p>By even reaching the D.A., Aiken had done better than the mother of the two victims. He would not, Aiken later wrote, even return the bereaved woman\u2019s phone calls.<\/p>\n<p>What followed over the next months and years was pure grassroots activism. With the backing of her Unitarian church, Aiken organized a small meeting of interested citizens. This group would eventually become <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rid-usa.org\/rid-usa-inc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Remove Intoxicated Drivers<\/a> (RID), America\u2019s first anti-drunk driving organization, in 1978.<\/p>\n<div class=\"vestpocket\">\n<div id=\"vest-pocket-container-0\" class=\"article-vp-wrapper ng-scope standard\" data-track=\"3\"><span class=\"vp-topper ng-binding\">Recommended by Forbes<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-text clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-pagination ng-scope\">Page <strong class=\"ng-binding\">1<\/strong> \/ <strong class=\"ng-binding\">2<\/strong> <a class=\"article-pagination-next ng-scope\" href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/barronlerner\/2016\/07\/27\/drunk-drivings-biggest-foe-doris-aiken-at-90\/2\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">Continue <i class=\"icon icon-chevron-right\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-comment ng-scope\">\n<div class=\"comments-cta no-comments\">\n<div class=\"count\"><\/div>\n<p>Comment on this story<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-bottom-sharing article-sharing ng-isolate-scope\" data-track=\"body-bottom\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-bottom-sharing article-sharing ng-isolate-scope\" data-track=\"body-bottom\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-print-bar ng-scope\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"print\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/barronlerner\/2016\/07\/27\/drunk-drivings-biggest-foe-doris-aiken-at-90\/print\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i class=\"icon icon-print\"><\/i> Print<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jul 27, 2016 @ 12:42 PM 232 views The Little Black Book of Billionaire Secrets Drunk Driving&#8217;s Biggest Foe: Doris Aiken At 90 Barron Lerner Contributor I&#8217;m a physician and medical historian at NYU, author of 5 books. Opinions expressed &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rid-usa.org\/rid-usa-inc\/2016\/07\/28\/doris-aiken-honored-in-forbes-magazine\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rid-general-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rid-usa.org\/rid-usa-inc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rid-usa.org\/rid-usa-inc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rid-usa.org\/rid-usa-inc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rid-usa.org\/rid-usa-inc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rid-usa.org\/rid-usa-inc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1653"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.rid-usa.org\/rid-usa-inc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2122,"href":"https:\/\/www.rid-usa.org\/rid-usa-inc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653\/revisions\/2122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rid-usa.org\/rid-usa-inc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rid-usa.org\/rid-usa-inc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rid-usa.org\/rid-usa-inc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}