NCJ Number
190263
Date Published
1999
Length
40 pages
Annotation
This report presented trend data on impaired driving among youth and summarized some of the most effective strategies for preventing impaired driving by young people in the United States.
Abstract
Drivers 15- to 20-years-old have been seen as having a higher rate of fatal alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes than older drivers. A recurring result in impaired driving research had shown that young drivers more frequently crashed at lower blood alcohol concentrations than did older drivers. One reason suggested that young drivers were inexperienced with drinking, driving, or both. As a result, drinking and driving by youth had become a major focus of preventionists for the past 15 years. Many strategies have been shown to prevent alcohol-related crashes among youth. Community organization and mobilization were often the mechanisms used for implementing these strategies. This report presented and described three youth-oriented deterrence and alcohol policy strategies. The first strategy was the Age 21 Laws. Minimum age 21 alcohol purchase laws were put in place in all 50 States and the District of Columbia. In the Zero Tolerance strategy, many States have enacted BAC (Blood-Alcohol Content) limits of 0.02 percent or less for drivers under age 21. The final strategy discussed was the Graduated Licensing process where learning drivers could be gradually granted driving privileges. References, tables, and graphs