Six years after her family was killed, Northville woman fights to end drunken driving

Grant Schwab

The Detroit News

Washington — Nearly six years after Rana Abbas Taylor’s world was destroyed in an instant by a drunken driver, she is urging the federal government to make good on its so-far unfulfilled promise to require lifesaving technology in all new vehicles.

“It’s been six years, and it doesn’t get any easier,” said the Northville resident at a candlelight vigil Tuesday night on the National Mall for drunken driving victims. “Our roads are extremely violent, and we can fix that.”

A drunken driver killed Taylor’s sister, her brother-in-law and the couple’s three children on the morning of Jan. 6, 2019. The Abbas family was traveling home from a vacation in Florida when they were struck head-on by a wrong-way driver on Interstate 75 in Kentucky at 2:30 a.m. — a fatal crash that sent shockwaves through their hometown of Northville.

The crash killed Rima, 38, Issam Abbas, 42, and their children: Ali, 13, Isabelle, 12, and Giselle, 7. The driver, Joey Lee Bailey of Georgetown, Kentucky, who also died in the crash, had a blood alcohol level nearly four times the legal limit, police said.

The vigil led by Mothers Against Drunk Driving — in addition to honoring the lives of the Abbas family and the more than 10,000 people killed in the U.S. annually by drunken drivers — was meant to push the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to adopt a rule mandating anti-drunken driving technology be equipped in all new vehicles.

Congress passed a law requiring such a rule three years ago and set a Nov. 15, 2024, deadline for the agency. That deadline came and went last week without action.

Taylor said she blames all parties involved for the persistence of drunken driving as a major killer on America’s roads. Of the roughly 40,000 traffic fatalities in the U.S. each year, drunken driving is responsible for about one-third of them.

“We don’t need to wait for NHTSA,” Taylor told The Detroit News. “The automakers can do this today. If they wanted, they could.”

Progress inches forward

After the Abbas family was killed, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell quickly became an advocate in Congress to prevent similar horrors.

She retold the story Tuesday of attending a memorial service for the Abbas family five years ago, recalling that young friends and classmates of the slain children ask how something like that could happen with so much technology inside modern-day cars and trucks.

“If kids can say this to me,” the Ann Arbor Democrat said, “as adults, we’ve got to do something. So we do, and we did. I came back and I called Ford Motor Co. — because they were in Dearborn — and I said, ‘This is our family. This is our community. We got to get this done.'”

Dingell sponsored the HALT Act, which required the Department of Transportation to prescribe a motor vehicle safety standard for mandatory, in-vehicle technology capable of passively detecting and stopping drunken or impaired driving. The measure was designed to be technology-neutral, meaning it would not require one particular type of vehicle addition to meet new safety standards.

The bill’s full title was the Honoring Abbas Family Legacy to Terminate Drunk Driving Act, which Taylor said in 2021 was a meaningful symbol that made sure her family’s “legacy gets to live on forever.”

Congress passed the act as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law enacted in November 2021 under President Joe Biden. NHSTA, which operates within the Department of Transportation, made a preliminary regulatory filing in January 2024 seeking feedback from the public about the eventual standard it will set.

More: Out of Michigan family’s tragic death, new policy emerges to end drunken driving

The filing received more than 18,000 public comments but has not yet resulted in a standard that automakers will have to follow.

In response to an inquiry from The News, NHTSA said it does not expect to issue a final rule this year. If necessary, it can extend the time period for the final rule for three years but must provide annual status reports to Congress in the meantime.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation — the top automotive lobbying group in Washington — announced Monday it would establish a new consortium of automakers and other businesses to pool resources and fund studies related to questions raised by public comments earlier in the year.

“Automakers are making major investments in research, development and testing of drunk and impaired driving technology using sensors, cameras and warning systems. But anytime the government requires vehicle technology, important questions should be asked. Like how does this technology work in the real world?” said John Bozzella, president and CEO of the alliance.

“Answering those questions is essential. Otherwise, the technology may be rejected by drivers,” Bozzella added. “That’s a result nobody wants. Our research consortium will help NHTSA fill those knowledge gaps.”

Stephanie Manning, the head of government affairs for MADD, said her organization was aware of the consortium and would have further discussions with the alliance.

“We want the same amount of resources and conviction dedicated to drunk driving that the auto industry dedicated to increasing seat belt use and making sure the kids weren’t being killed by airbags in the front seat,” Manning said in an interview. “The auto industry solved those problems. They came together. They put a lot of resources toward those issues, and they got it done. That’s what we’re asking for.”

Rana Abbas Taylor was more skeptical of the auto industry taking major action on its own.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” she said.

‘Less lonely in Northville’

Taylor still lives in Northville, where she and her sister used to live four blocks apart.

“My sister Rima and I grew up in Northville. My uncle always had a home in Northville, so we spent every Sunday in that area,” she said.

“There’s a park at the end of our block with a memorial bench, which is where we used to go,” added Taylor, holding back tears. “There are a lot of memories. There’s a lot of pain. But there is a sense of community that this loss was for all of us, and so it’s definitely less lonely in Northville.”

Still, she said this time of year is particularly difficult with the holidays — Thanksgiving being a longtime family favorite — and a string of birthdays. Her nephew, Ali, would have turned 19 years old a month ago, she said. Her niece, Isabelle, would have turned 18 on Nov. 21, and Giselle would have turned 13 in early 2025.

Shortly after Rima and her family were killed, thousands paid respects at the funeral at Dearborn’s Islamic Center of America, which was founded by Rima Abbas’ grandfather. Hundreds also attended a candlelight vigil for the family in Northville.

Some six years later, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, spoke during the Tuesday event on the National Mall about her friendship with Rima.

“I was there when Rima and Issam were falling in love,” Tlaib recalled fondly. “It took a little while for Rima. … Issam didn’t let up, and they fell in love, got married and had three beautiful children.”

Tlaib spoke of how beloved the family was in their community, how much their loss still resonates in Northville and Dearborn, and the need for further action on preventing drunken driving. Tlaib was a co-sponsor of the HALT Act.

“We know how crucial legislation like this is for survivors sharing their stories again today,” the congresswoman said. “And we must act now to prevent these deaths and devastating injuries that continue to tear our families apart.”