| Introductory Letter |
To meet this challenge, NHTSA held a national summit in 1995 with state and community leaders to create a new comprehensive and broad-based strategy to reduce impaired driving nationwide. The Partners in Progress coalition established an ambitious national goal of reducing alcohol-related traffic fatalities in America to no more than 11,000 by the year 2005.
Achieving this goal will reduce deaths caused by drinking and driving by approximately 5,000 each year, saving 14 lives every day. However, to truly succeed and save lives we must begin by changing the attitude and acceptance of many Americans about impaired driving.
The reality is that all too many Americans make the wrong choice, believing they can drive when in fact they are impaired. And every day, families and loved ones must deal with the tragic consequences of those wrong choices.
This booklet describes the key elements of a comprehensive impaired driving program and is intended to help support and expand the hard work already being done nationwide by private and public traffic safety partners to heighten awareness about the deadly results of drinking and driving.
NHTSA’s national program focuses on initiating change by building partnerships with organizations, influencers and decision-makers. It embraces and expands on the 125 strategic recommendations created by the Partners in Progress implementation team outlined in the coalition’s Impaired Driving Guide for Action.
The Guide for Action is comprised of seven sections:
- public education;
- individual responsibility;
- the healthcare community;
- businesses and employers;
- legislation;
- enforcement and adjudication; and
- technology.
In addition, each section includes recommended strategies and action steps for implementing the strategies.
YOU DRINK & DRIVE. YOU LOSE.
One of the components of the Guide for Action — Public Education — includes a strategy to "develop and implement a comprehensive, balanced public awareness campaign focused on safe and healthy lifestyles."
As a result, NHTSA is currently developing a national public education campaign on impaired driving aimed at high-risk populations, such as: youth, 21- to 34-year-olds, and repeat offenders.
Early work under the campaign has included focus-group testing of messages to reach a variety of audiences. From the testing emerged the theme: You Drink & Drive. You Lose. This campaign will continue through the year 2005 and will focus-group test messages throughout that period with the high-risk populations mentioned above.
UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM
Impaired driving is the most frequently committed violent crime in America. Every 33 minutes, someone in this country dies in an alcohol-related crash. In the time it takes you to read through this program description, someone else will die needlessly and violently on a street or highway.
For many years, we have made good progress. Due to the tireless efforts of many organizations and citizens around the country, alcohol-related traffic deaths have decreased significantly. In the last decade, alcohol-related fatalities dropped from 24,050 in 1986 to 15,935 in 1998, according to NHTSA.
This 33% drop in alcohol-related deaths is generally attributed to: 1) stronger laws; 2) tougher enforcement and adjudication; 3) more effective public education; and 4) change of attitudes toward drinking and driving.
Americans agree that drinking and driving is a serious problem. Societal norms have changed. Fewer people are driving after drinking — and more are getting caught when they do. Equally important, Americans support the strict enforcement of these laws and swift and fair sentencing for offenders.
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What. Why. How.
This program description provides a comprehensive plan for states and communities to develop and implement an impaired driving program. The ultimate goal is to reduce alcohol-related traffic fatalities to no more than 11,000 by the year 2005. This will require support and partnerships at all levels. Technical assistance and materials will be available to states and communities for impaired driving programs. This booklet includes a list of program resources. In addition, a checklist of the comprehensive impaired driving program elements is included. For clarification: throughout this Comprehensive Impaired Driving Program description, the use of "impaired driving" means operating a motor vehicle while one is affected by alcohol or other drugs (including prescriptions and over-the-counter medications). |
Alcohol is a major factor
Unfortunately, the human and economic tolls of impaired driving continue to loom large on the public health landscape. Significant reductions must be reached to achieve the national impaired driving goal of reducing alcohol-related fatalities to no more than 11,000 by the year 2005. In 1998, 38% of the 47,471 motor vehicle crash deaths were attributed to alcohol use. For youth aged 15-20, alcohol-related fatalities decreased by about 5% in 1997. The chart below shows the trend in alcohol-related fatalities.
Youth at high risk
Drug use among youth continues at unacceptable levels. From the 1997 Monitoring the Future Survey, the proportion of eighth graders using illicit drugs has almost doubled since 1991 — and 12th graders’ use increased by almost half since 1992. The use of marijuana at all prevalence levels increased among 10th and 12th graders in 1997. And approximately one in 20 of today’s high school seniors is a daily marijuana user.
In addition, self-reported monthly use of alcohol by high school seniors increased from 48.6% in 1993 to 52.7% in 1997. Binge drinking increased from 27.5% to 31.3%. In 1997, 54.3% of high school seniors had used an illicit drug at least once in their lifetime.
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