This prosecutors' planner was developed to help you support the existing community- and school-based efforts by organizations such as Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), Remove Intoxicated Drivers (RID) and the National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) during graduation and prom season. As community leaders, you have an opportunity to help young people understand, through your experiences as prosecutors, the tragic reality that, often, there are no second chances when it comes to impaired driving.

National Goal: Reduce Impaired Driving
and Underage Drinking

Impaired driving is no accident - it is a violent crime that kills. Every 33 minutes an American dies in an alcohol-related crash. Every two minutes someone is injured. The greatest tragedy is that these crashes are predictable and preventable - these are not accidents.

While we are making great strides, we must continue to do more in our communities to prevent these senseless deaths. The fact is that impaired driving is a violent crime that every month accounts for more than one third of all traffic fatalities.

Reducing alcohol-related traffic fatalities is one of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) top priorities. The national goal is to lower the annual death toll to no more than 11,000 by the year 2005. To meet this formidable challenge, NHTSA created thecampaign.

You Drink & Drive. You Lose.-
America's Impaired Driving Campaign

Working closely with countless criminal justice, health, medical and youth safety organizations, NHTSA unveiled last December the impaired driving prevention campaign.

was developed as the voice of an energized national partnership aimed at intensifying the fight against impaired driving. But it's much more than just a public service advertising campaign. It's a comprehensive impaired driving prevention program for states and communities to use as we all work together to save lives by reducing impaired driving deaths. The campaign targets high-risk populations such as 21- to 34-year-olds, high blood alcohol and repeat offenders, and underage drinkers by enhancing public education, expanding public- private partnerships, supporting strong laws and promoting highly visible enforcement, prosecution and adjudication.

Next Phase of the Campaign -
Zero Tolerance Means Zero Chances.

National, state and local agencies and youth organizations received copies of the campaign peer-to-peer Action Kit in Spring 2000. The campaign targets young people between the ages of 15 and 20. The goal is to reduce underage drinking and impaired driving during the spring break, prom and graduation periods - a deadly time for America's young people.

Now's the Best Time to
Start Saving Young Lives

As prosecutors, you can provide valuable information to young people during this campaign about the legal consequences of underage drinking and drinking and driving in an effort to encourage students to not drink, use drugs or drive impaired. Through school assemblies, field trips to observe impaired driving trials, "courtroom in the classroom" programs, lectures in government or civics classes, etc., you can discuss the legal consequences of their actions-

• The potential for loss of a driving permit
• The process of arrest and conviction
• Time in detention
• Costs associated with defending an impaired driving arrest
• And, if impaired driving results in a death and a felony conviction, what might that do to a young person's future.

By informing students about zero tolerance laws and the penalties in your state, they may think twice about drinking and driving and, through your outreach, young lives will be saved during the prom/graduation season.

You can also participate in the educational campaign by writing guest editorials for local newspapers or appearing on local radio/television news and talk shows, addressing problems associated with underage drinking and impaired driving. As a community leader, you are a powerful voice for reaching the parents of young people regarding the legal consequences of underage drinking and the lifesaving benefits of hosting alcohol and drug-free activities.