Proposal for extended bar hours sees pushback from loved ones of DUI crash victims

ATLANTA - A proposal to extend "last call" hours at bars across the City of Atlanta received major pushback at Atlanta City Council’s public safety committee meeting Monday.

The plan for longer party hours was effectively put on ice after several residents shared concerns about how the legislation would impact public safety – and most notably, DUI’s around metro Atlanta.

"We understand that there’s pending or proposed legislation extending bar hours, and we’re asking the committee to file that legislation," M.A.D.D. Regional Director Jill Arrington said before council members. "M.A.D.D. opposes any proposal to extend the closing time for the sale of any alcohol."

M.A.A.D. stands for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

According to Arrington, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety reported DUIs accounted for nearly a quarter of all fatal crashes in the state and the National Highway Traffic Administration reported an 8.4-percent increase in DUIs from 2021 to 2022.

"We don’t want any more victims," a mother, Tameka Buck, said tearfully.

With a family photo in-hand, Buck recalled the DUI crash that claimed the lives of her two sons. Public safety committee members listened to the sobering pleas of Buck and others, asking them to table the plan that would allow bars and restaurants to serve alcohol until 3 a.m.

"The one that was most touching was M.A.D.D. These are mothers against drunk drivers. I, too, have lost a loved one and family member to drunk driving," City Councilwoman Keisha Sean-Waites told FOX 5.

Sean-Waites, who authored the legislation, initially did so with plans to extend pour hours until 4 a.m. but voices against even the revised proposal far outnumbered those in favor of the legislation created to help businesses recovering from the pandemic.

"We hope it gets buried and doesn’t see the light of day," a representative from the Buckhead Coalition stated before members of council.

Waites said the legislation has been tabled for now in response to what was said during the public comment portion of Monday’s committee meeting.

"I don’t necessarily make the correlation to bar hours, but I am sensitive to their cry and their plea to visit this issue in a different way."

She told FOX 5 that with Atlanta now considered an "international city" slated to host the FIFA World Cup in 2026, her hope is to find a happy medium between business owners and residents.

In the meantime, she said she plans to do more research on the correlation between bar hours and incidents of drunk driving.