NCJ Number
113339
Journal
Accident Analysis and Prevention Volume: 18 Issue: 4 Dated: (1986) Pages: 325-337
Date Published
1986
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This review of the assumptions and evaluations of Canadian school-based programs designed to prevent drunk driving suggests that such programs hold significant promise for reducing this offense among youth over both the short-term and the long-term.
Abstract
Program models and procedures have been adapted from alcohol, drug, and driver education programs, which use informational and affect-based models of behavioral change. Programs based on the imparting of accurate information, nonthreatening efforts to change attitudes, and behavioral peer intervention techniques consistently demonstrate knowledge gains and, in some cases, appropriate changes in attitudes and self-reported behaviors immediately following program exposure. These effects often tend to dissipate with time. Only a small number of such programs have been evaluated, and no evaluations have examined a program's impact on traffic safety indices. Presentations integrated into classroom activities over several years apparently hold more promise than single presentations; however, no empirical evidence on this issue is available. Since evaluations of these programs are limited in number and methodology, the programs should be carefully monitored and evaluated until traffic safety benefits can be documented. 1 table, 63 references. (Publisher abstract modified)