NCJ Number
79466
Journal
Driver Volume: 13 Issue: 3 Dated: (August 1979) Pages: 1,3-7
Date Published
1979
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article describes a California course in which persons arrested for drunk driving attempt a variety of driving maneuvers on a driving course while both sober and drunk.
Abstract
Located on Orange County, Calif., the program was developed by the owner of the local raceway. He developed the Academy of Defensive Driving, which also used the raceway for a course to train police officers to deal with chase situations. The course for drunk driving offenders was designed to show the drivers that they cannot safely drink and drive. The course is designed for the social drinker, who may continue to drink, but will do it with restraint after the course. The course runs for 8 hours a day for 3 days and includes lectures, films, group discussions, driving practice through obstacles and hazards, and actual drinking and driving experiences. Instructors include driver educators, police, people with mental health backgrounds, and former race drivers. The driving area includes an oiled area in which to practice the handling of skids, serpentine courses, simulated parallel parking situations, and a traffic hazard simulator. The drivers are videotaped during their driving maneuvers to show how alcohol alters their behavior. The police course teaches officers how to drive more efficiently and safely so that they can catch suspects without crashing. A course highlight is the rabbit chase, in which an instructor serves as a suspect whom the policemen must catch within five laps of the raceway track. The police course has trained 6,000 people, and the drunk driving class has been attended by over 10,000 persons. A comparison of 1,000 graduates of the drunk driving course with 1,000 drinking drivers who were simply convicted and fined revealed that in the first year after the conviction, the court-processed persons were 78 percent more likely than the course graduates to have another alcohol-related violation, 34 percent more likely to have an accident, 23 percent more likely to have a moving violation, and 40 percent more likely to have their licenses suspended. Photographs are provided.