NCJ Number
119544
Date Published
1988
Length
86 pages
Annotation
This report presents testimony and recommendations from five public hearings conducted in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Fort Worth, and Seattle in 1987-88.
Abstract
Testimony indicates that drinking is endemic among American youth and that alcoholic beverages remain easily accessible to youth under 21 years old. The hearings confirmed that youth impaired driving is a societal problem that will not be resolved in the short term or by a single approach. Testimony emphasized the pivotal role parents play in preventing youth-impaired driving. The hearings suggest that every systemwide approach to youth-impaired driving must combine prevention, deterrence, and treatment/intervention. Recommendations pertain to school responsibilities, extracurricular activities, community responsibilities, work-based activities, enforcement, licensing, adjudication, supervision, and legislation. General recommendations are that legislation should be enacted to regulate alcohol beverage advertising; education programs should emphasize the wearing of safety belts; the effectiveness of all programs must be evaluated; and the problem demands strategies that go beyond current measures. Appendixes include findings from a survey on drinking and driving among high school seniors and statistics on fatal crashes involving youth.