On the fifth anniversary of its national campaign to eliminate drunk driving, the influential group Mothers Against Drunk Driving this week released a detailed, state-by-state report card on the effectiveness of laws to combat driving under the influence.

With three out of five stars, Massachusetts scored in the middle, earning points for its enforcement strategies including sobriety checkpoints and the adoption of Melanie’s Law, which makes car interlock devices mandatory for repeat convicted offenders.

Not surprisingly, MADD reports there is much work to be done before drunk driving is eliminated.

Closer to home there is good news and bad news on this topic. An examination of district court records by the Gazette last month shows the number of drunk driving cases on the Island has fallen. Island police who spoke to the Gazette cited better enforcement and increased awareness among the citizenry as factors. But, at least in Oak Bluffs, it may also be due in part to less police activity caused by budget cuts.

Coincidentally, The Boston Globe’s spotlight team has done a far more detailed examination of district court records statewide. Among other things, the spotlight team found a startlingly low conviction rate for drunk driving cases. The stories have caused a stir among district courts judges across the commonwealth, as well they should.

The Globe report focuses on larger counties in the commonwealth, and neither the Globe nor the Gazette has a full picture of how many of the cases here result in convictions. The state’s Supreme Judicial Court has since announced it is conducting a statewide inquiry into drunk driving acquittal rates.

No doubt our police and courts can do more, but we as individuals also bear some responsibility. As the MADD report notes, “What was once a punch line on late night television is now considered unacceptable, yet it is still tolerated.”

The statistics are sobering. One out of three highway deaths involve a drunk driver. In 2009 more than ten thousand people were killed in drunk driving crashes. Nearly two hundred of them were children.

Friends don’t let friends drive drunk. The catchy phrase, an ad slogan for a public service announcement to promote the designated driver program, is ingrained in our everyday lexicon. But do we practice what we speak? Certainly not always, and the district court news published in this newspaper serves as a weekly testament to the fact. By far the predominant number of cases involve people who were driving while drunk. How many of those people had been drinking with friends, in a bar, in a restaurant or in someone’s home before they got behind the wheel?

So here’s something to think about the week before Thanksgiving as the season of endless celebrations involving alcohol consumption begins.

Spare your friends the embarrassment of appearing in the weekly court news in the newspaper, the financial burden of paying hefty court fees and the incalculable emotional cost to themselves and their families. If you are going out somewhere, adopt the practice that began in Sweden in the 1920s and plan ahead of time to have one person in your party be the designated driver. In situations where no one has planned ahead, call a cab or the local police for a ride home. You can do that on the Island at any hour; the nonemergency number for the communications center is 508-693-1212.

Join the MADD campaign. Please don’t let your friends drive drunk.