According to statistics, almost 1,300 people were killed nationwide between Thanksgiving and New Years last year as the result of drunk drivers.

To try and change that, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and various law enforcement agencies are in the midst of a campaign aimed at reducing the numbers of deaths resulting from DWI's.

And officials say this weekend's fatal accident on Glenwood Ave at Brier Creek was a deadly reminder that more work needs to be done.

A Durham woman was in court Monday morning, charged with DWI, and involuntary manslaughter in connection with that accident that injured eight others.

In court, it was also revealed Linda Ratliff was driving with a revoked license and an open container of alcohol.

Experts say drunk driving is a major problem in this state.

"North Carolina ranks fifth in the country for drunk driving deaths," claimed Craig Lloyd, the executive director of MADD/N.C. He adds, this state averages, "80,000 DWI arrests here each year."

He said drinking increases during this holiday season which is why law enforcement steps up efforts to catch drinking drivers at DWI checkpoint.

Lloyd said checkpoints and education campaigns like Tie One On For Safety Program seem to be helping.

"As our results show right now, we're going to hopefully have a significant drop in drunk driving deaths over this past year," he said.

But the habitual offenders are harder to catch. Many have already had their licenses revoked but they're still behind the wheel. So they have to be caught in the court system itself with a monitoring program.

Lloyd says the program makes sure that "people are not falling thru the cracks and that we're not having repeat offenders slip, have something reduced, or thrown out all together."

Meanwhile, organizations like MADD are also counting on technology to keep people from driving drunk.

In 2009, Toyota will actually have a car with a steering wheel that can detect alcohol thru the pores of your skin if you're at a certain level of intoxication insuring that the car will not work.

That just one kind of technology that automakers are investing in to prevent drunk drivers.

MADD says its goal is to eliminate drunk driving in North Carolina within 10 years. 

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