By HOA NGUYEN
Press of Atlantic City Staff Writer

The late-night call informing him of his son’s death at the hands of a drunken driver 12 years ago is a memory that still haunts Bill Elliot, particularly amid news of the two teenage girls killed last week, allegedly under similar circumstances.

“We know what it’s like to get a knock that you’re not expecting,” the 63-year-old Egg Harbor Township resident said. “It changes your life.”

Last week’s double fatal, which killed cousins Nioami Lazicki, 15, and Ashley Dauber, 13, who had been walking along a Middle Township road when they were struck, brings the total number of motor vehicle fatalities this year to six in Cape May County and 334 across the state.

That is less than the number killed over the same period last year, and in general represents an overall decrease from decades past. But the statistics bring little solace to residents whose lives are forever changed, particularly by drunken driving. Elliot just weeks earlier had marked the 12-year anniversary of the death of his 22-year-old son, John, who was a recent graduate of the United States Naval Academy.

“We’re making progress,” Elliott said of the reduction in drunken driving fatalities. “The problem is, progress doesn’t mean anything when you get that knock on the door or call in the middle of the night.”

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