What We Know Impaired driving continues to be the most frequently committed violent crime in America. Although alcohol-related traffic deaths were on the decline for several years, the most recent statistics show that these crashes are headed back up, especially in the 21- to 34-year old age group. In addition to the tragic deaths that occur, millions of people are injured in alcohol-related traffic crashes annually. To put the problem in perspective, someone in this country dies in an alcohol-related crash every 30 minutes. About two in every five Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their lives.

What Works We know that there must be a combination of essential factors -- effective laws, strong enforcement, highly visible public information and education -- to reduce the incidence of impaired driving and riding. Thanks to grassroots organizations, citizen activists, national highway safety and public health groups, concerned legislators and other elected leaders, involved industries, and millions of people with plain old common sense, some real progress has been made.

Four key laws have proven effective in the fight against impaired driving: illegal per se, administrative license revocation (ALR), zero tolerance for youth alcohol, and .08 blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Many people have changed their behavior patterns as well: more are receptive to the idea of using a designated driver, party hosts are more cautious, and guests look out for one another. The hospitality industry has been supportive and has made commitments to training servers to recognize signs of impairment. Overall, Americans seem to better understand the impaired driving and riding problem: fewer are driving after drinking and more are getting caught when they do.

Where To Go From Here Partnerships at the community level are the essential ingredients to making the combination of legislation, enforcement, and public information and education work to decrease impaired driving and riding fatalities and injuries. It is only through partnerships that we will reach the national goal of reducing alcohol-related fatalities to 11,000 by the year 2005. This planner provides ideas, examples, and resources for implementing impaired driving and riding prevention programs for National 3D Prevention Month and throughout the year.