The mission of MADD is to stop drunk driving, support the victims of this violent crime and prevent underage drinking. Due to the efforts of volunteers and staff tirelessly working to achieve MADD's mission, some 300,000 Americans are alive who would have otherwise been killed had drunk driving been allowed to continue at the epidemic levels of 1980. Although alcohol-related traffic deaths have decreased by more than 40 percent since MADD's founding, drunk driving remains the nation's most frequently committed violent crime. Each year nearly 13,000 people die in impaired driving crashes. Underage drinking remains the No. 1 youth drug problem, killing more young people that all other illicit drugs combined.