Jackie Masso, president of the Bay Area chapter of MADD, relives a tragedy.




Photograph by Skye Dunlap







MADD Memories

Jackie Masso hopes to prevent tragedies such as hers from happening to others

By Sarah Gaffney

Jackie Masso sits at the head of the table caressing a photo album as if it were a prayer book. At first glance, with her vanilla-white hair and gold "#1 Grandma" necklace, one might think that Masso was hosting a coffee klatch and that the memory book in her bejeweled hands held favorite photos of the grandkids.

But the four young people seated at the table aren't there to share the joys of Masso's life. And the photo album she clutches doesn't contain a collection of happy memories. On this particular evening, Masso shares with the table of strangers the story of one summer day in 1982 when a drunken driver crashed into her family's happy lives, forever changing every one of them.

The audience listens with rapt attention. All have been arrested for driving under the influence. As part of their sentencing, they're required to pay for and attend a Mothers Against Drunk Driving victim's impact panel, where for an hour they'll listen to the story of a victim of drunk driving. And Masso's story is a powerful one.

"Our crash happened on July 7, 1982. It was a Wednesday and it was 4:30 in the afternoon," begins the 68-year-old Willow Glen resident.

"Our youngest daughter, Patty, was driving. She just turned 21."

Masso then relates how an intoxicated twentysomething, who had been drinking beer all day, was driving toward her family's car at 75 mph in a 35 mph zone. His car collided head-on with her new Buick Regal, totaling both automobiles. Masso was napping in the back seat. She didn't know what hit her.

"You're affected physically, financially and emotionally, and you think you're going to go back to life like it was before," says Masso of her family and other car accident victims. "I can tell you that you don't. It's usually totally different."

In the car with Masso and her daughter were her husband and a family friend. All suffered traumatic bodily injuries and collectively spent over a year in the hospital recuperating. Looking at the pictures in the photo album, it's hard to believe anyone survived the crash. The mangled white Buick looks as if it had encountered the blades of a gigantic garbage disposer. The crash broke both of Masso's arms, broke and dislocated her left shoulder, broke every one of her ribs, fractured her pelvis, crushed her right knee, broke her right leg and ankle, and broke her left femur.

The perpetrator, whose blood alcohol level measured .28 four hours after the crash, spent two months and one week in jail.

Marc Singh, one of the attendees listening to Masso's story, expresses his shock. "You mean this guy was able to get out of the car and walk away?"

The 28-year-old Singh was arrested for driving under the influence in San Diego, a first-time offense for the former Navy man.

Leafing through the photo album, he says, "I'm shocked. It was amazing that she wasn't killed. It's really not right to drink and drive. It's a bad situation any way you look at it."


Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Survivor's Guild: Bay Area MADD president Jackie Masso says victims' impact panels are one of the most effective tools for combating drunk driving.




After recovering from the crash, Masso's husband, Pat, founded what is now the Bay Area chapter of MADD. Masso serves as its president and, more often than not, is the speaker for the victims' impact panel.

"We've found it's one of the most effective tools that we have," she says of MADD's 10-year-old victims' impact panel. "More times than not people will come up and say, 'I can't believe that I could have caused someone to go through what you and your family have gone through.' Personally, I think it's one of the best things for MADD victims to do."

And for Masso, one of the best things to happen in Santa Clara County would be to include MADD's victim impact panel as part of the sentencing for people arrested for DUIs in the county. Because Santa Clara County does not participate in the program, convicted drunk drivers in this county are not eligible to attend MADD's victims' impact panel.

"I wanted to do this but it was really hard for me to find out about it up here," says Singh, who relocated to the Bay Area after leaving the Navy. "It's a big thing down in San Diego. Everybody does it as part of their sentencing."

Bay Area participants pay to attend the one-time victims' impact panel, money which directly benefits MADD. The MADD chapter handles the scheduling and all the paperwork for the courts. Masso takes part of the blame for Santa Clara County's lack of participation.

"Why we can't get Santa Clara County moving on this ..." says the spunky grandmother. "I know we haven't pushed it as much as we should have because I've been so busy trying to run the chapter that I don't have the time to sit there on the phone."

Masso has also brought her story and other MADD victims to inmates in the county jail, and says that the common response is, "Why didn't we hear stories like this before we got our driver's license?" Convincing local judges and the parole office of the program's merits is her biggest hurdle.

"I think now, when places like Sacramento and San Diego have well-running programs, maybe the judges would be more open to it," opines Masso. "It wouldn't cost them anything. It would be part of the sentencing and the driver would have to conform to all the rules and pay all the costs."

Until she can get Santa Clara County on the MADD bandwagon, the petite grandmother will continue to tell her story and share her photos with sentenced DUI drivers from other Bay Area cities.

"Who knows how long it will make the impression," she finishes her narrative for the silenced table of four. "But I figure every time you get somebody that's been drinking to think, 'Oops, wait a minute, I'd better not drive,' you probably saved somebody's life. If not their life, you've saved somebody a lot of pain and money."

The photo album makes its way back to the head of the table and into Jackie Masso's hands. She clutches it close to her chest and brings the meeting to a close.

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