Reducing Impaired Driving Through Community Coalitions
Study Reviewed
Hingson, R., McGovern, T., Howland, J., Heeren, T., Winter, M., & Zakocs, R. (1996). Reducing alcohol-impaired driving in Massachusetts: The Saving Lives Program. American Journal of Public Health 86(6):791-797.
Study Focus
Hingson et al. assessed the effectiveness of six community-based initiatives to reduce alcohol-impaired driving, related driving risks, and traffic deaths and injuries (The Saving Lives Program). These 5-year initiatives were implemented by coalitions composed of multiple city agency representatives and private citizens. Specific interventions included sobriety checkpoints, beverage-server training, beer keg registration, enhanced liquor-licensing requirements, the use of signs listing penalties for law and ordinance infractions, a toll-free hotline to report speeding, media campaigns, and school-based education modeled after Project Northland, a prevention curriculum originating in Minnesota and requiring significant involvement from parents.
The Saving Lives Program received funding from the Massachusetts Governor’s Highway Safety Bureau and the Commonwealth Fund of New York. Each community received $70,000 annually for 5 years (approximately $1 per inhabitant annually). Half of the funding was used to cover the cost of a full-time program coordinator from the mayor’s office. Twenty percent was designated for additional law enforcement. The remaining funding was used for program activities and educational materials. The involvement of many volunteers and the donation of in-kind services were cited as critical. Active task force membership ranged from 20 to more than 100 individuals, and about 50 organizations were represented in each community coalition.
Study Methodology
Composite data on the six Saving Lives cities were compared with data on five cities with similar population densities and geographic locations within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Researchers monitored traffic citations and reports of crashes that resulted in fatalities or injuries, directly observed safety belt use and speed patterns, and surveyed over 15,000 residents by telephone. Data were collected for the 5 program years as well as the 5 years prior to the start of the program.
Study Findings
Program cities recorded a 25 percent decrease in fatal crashes; a 42 percent decrease in fatal crashes involving alcohol; a 5 percent decrease in visible injuries per 100 crashes; and 50 percent decreases in vehicles observed speeding and in teenagers who reported driving after drinking.
Bottom Line
The results of the Saving Lives Program demonstrate that it is possible for community-based, multistrategy interventions to produce dramatic changes in public health and safety. The authors do not attribute positive findings to any specific intervention strategy, however. Rather, they cite the intervention’s organizational structure as the cornerstone of success. Coalitions of private citizens and public officials from multiple city departments developed their own initiatives. With the political will of government agencies to implement strategies for change, the authors suggest that community interventions are much more likely to take root, receive attention, and achieve the desired outcomes. Researchers also note that as they developed strategies for change, the coalitions set realistic outcome goals. Consequently, this too played a significant role in their ability to achieve positive results.
To receive a complimentary copy of this PreventionAlert, call SAMSHA's National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI) @ 1-800-729-6686, TDD 1-800-487-4889 (for the hearing impaired.)
PREVENTIONAlert is supported by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and may be copied without permission with appropriate citation. For information about PREVENTIONAlert, please contact CSAP by phone (301) 443-0581 or e-mail gensley@samhsa.gov
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