RALEIGH - The state chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving will hold its largest fundraiser of the year Saturday, the Walk Like MADD 5K walk at N.C. State University's Centennial Campus.

The chapter hopes to raise $80,000 for its programs, which include support services for the victims of drunken-driving accidents and their families. About a third of all traffic deaths in North Carolina are alcohol-related, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Some of the money raised Saturday will also help MADD lobby the General Assembly to require the use of "alcohol ignition interlock" devices by anyone who has been convicted of drunken driving, said Craig Lloyd, the state chapter's executive director. The devices test a driver's breath and will not allow a vehicle to start if it measures blood alcohol above a certain level.

Four states -- Arizona, Illinois, Louisiana and New Mexico -- now require alcohol ignition interlock for anyone convicted of driving while impaired, according to MADD. North Carolina law requires them in certain circumstances, including when someone who had been convicted of drunken driving with a blood alcohol level of .15 or higher has his or her license restored.

People who have been convicted of driving impaired account for about a third of drunken driving arrests nationwide, according to MADD.

"We want to take out that piece, the repeat offenders," Lloyd said.

He said MADD will ask state legislators to introduce a bill requiring the interlock devices during the 2009 legislative session.

The devices will be demonstrated at the 5K walk Saturday.

In addition, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, MADD's national CEO Chuck Hurley and singer Lynn Carey Saylor, whose song "I Wasn't a Friend" concerns drunken driving, are scheduled to appear.

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