Community and civic groups such as Kiwanis, Zonta, Lions, Elks, Rotary, Parent Teacher Associations (PTA), and the Junior League, can be the core support of a highway safety community.

Though individual groups may be small, they can band together to form partnerships with groups in neighboring cities or with local high schools or colleges.

They can work to raise awareness of the impaired driving problem and can make change happen in their communities.

Consider the following ideas as you begin planning 3D Prevention Month and year-round events and make community and civic groups part of your Safe Community.

Ideas for 3D Prevention Month Activities:

• Organize a Safe Ride program over the holidays. This type of program provides free rides home to impaired drivers and gets them off the road. Partner with a taxi service or hospital to set up a dispatch center and organize drivers.
• Sponsor an alcohol-free holiday party for local high school students.
• Hold a candlelight vigil for citizens who died in the past year as a result of impaired driving.

Year-Round Activities:

• Invite a traffic safety advocate to speak at group luncheons or meetings. Check with your State Highway Safety Office to have someone speak on the impaired driving problem in your community (number of crashes, injuries, and fatalities each year, cost to the community, etc.). Or ask a representative from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) or Remove Intoxicated Drivers (RID) to talk about a personal loss from impaired driving.
• Write letters to your state legislators urging passage of .08 BAC, zero tolerance for youth alcohol, and other strong impaired driving laws.
• Include drunk driving information with your group's materials at community fair booths or distribute impaired driving information in your neighborhood.