20th Safe & Sober Planner Operation ABC You Drink & Drive. You Lose. Call To Action Activities Guide Table of Contents Introduction How to Plan and Conduct National Events Community and Civic Law Enforcement Medical and Health Care Educators and Schools Employers Prosecutors and Judges Armed Forces A Dozen Great Ideas! Media Outreach Sample Media Materials Sample Proclamation Ideas for Year-Round Driving Efforts 3D Prevention Month Coalition 3D Prevention Month Grantss Resources Available Tell Us About It! Fact Sheets Program Brochure Resource Guide

It’s the good news/bad news routine: The good news is that in 1998, traffic fatalities declined to their lowest number in four years and alcohol-related highway deaths reached a record low. The bad news is that alcohol impairment still contributed to 15,935 deaths on our nation’s roads and streets.

That’s more than 300 funerals a week.

That’s more than one jumbo jet tumbling from the sky every week.

It’s the equivalent of a bus crashing and killing all on board every day.

It’s a death every 3 minutes.

It’s just unacceptable.

You’ve received this Campaign Safe and Sober Program Planner 20 because you’ve been involved in highway safety planning in the past, or you’d like to get involved now. Your timing is perfect. We have just five years left to meet the national goal of no more than 11,000 alcohol-related traffic deaths by 2005. We need every community group, every law enforcement agency, every health care provider, every business, every elected official, every school, every judge, every prosecutor to be involved in this fight.

December is National Drunk and Drugged Driving (3D) Prevention Month. Each year, thousands of organizations plan anti-impaired driving activities and events to highlight the following key messages:

• Don’t drink and drive – ever.
• Plan ahead. Designate a driver before you party.
• Take the keys. Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.
• Buckle up. A seat belt is your best defense against a drunk driver.

Why a seat belt message when the issue is impaired driving? Because nearly two-thirds of all drivers and passengers who die on our nation’s highways are not wearing their seat belts. Seat belt use is at 70 percent nationally, but if 85 percent of drivers would buckle up, we’d save 4,000 lives every year and prevent 100,000 injuries.

So bring the buckle up message into your 3D Prevention Month plans. Begin by supporting the Operation ABC Mobilization over the long Thanksgiving weekend (see related materials in this Program Planner). Then take a look at the new impaired driving program – You Drink & Drive. You Lose. – that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is launching this December (see related materials in this Program Planner). And use this 3D Prevention Month Activities Guide to plan your local efforts and to bring new partners into your 3D coalition, your December programs, and your other activities throughout the year.

Good luck, and thank you for all you do for highway safety.

Ricardo A. Martinez, MD
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration