Keeping Us on Track: A National Program To Reduce Impaired Driving in the United States (From Alcohol & Crime: Research and Practice for Prevention, Alcohol Policy 12 Conference)

• NCJ Number: 185784
• Author(s): James C. Fell
• Date Published: 2000
• Length: 14 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Admin (SAMHSA)
• Sale Source: NCJRS Photocopy Services; National Crime Prevention Council
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article suggests components of a program to reduce impaired driving in the United States.

Abstract

In January 1995, a national goal was established to reduce alcohol-related traffic fatalities in the United States to no more than 11,000 a year by 2005. A combination of effective laws, highly publicized enforcement, public information and education, and practical alternatives to drinking and driving are the keys to substantially reducing the impaired driving problem in the United States. Many of these strategies have already helped to reduce alcohol-related traffic fatalities in the United States from 25,165 in 1982, to 22,084 in 1990, to an estimated 15,794 in 1999. The article includes examples from an action plan that can help get many of these measures implemented. While there are arguments against some of them, they are cost effective for the most part and the majority of the American people favor them. Existing measures and programs, if instituted together, can have a dramatic impact on the problem of impaired driving. Reaching the 2005 goal will also require the political will of the U.S. Congress, the administration, Federal, State, and local officials, and the general public. References, appendix