Evaluation of 24/7 Sobriety Programs

Alcohol-impaired driving remains a significant traffic safety and public health problem. In fact, from 2014 to 2015, there was an increase in the number of alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities of 3.2 percent. Among the most stubborn problems in impaired driving is recidivism of Driving-Under-the-Influence (DUI) offenders. One intervention to recidivism is 24/7 sobriety programs, which use intensive testing and monitoring of alcohol and/or drug consumption on a 24 hour per day, seven days per week basis to incentivize sobriety. Many of these programs monitor the sobriety of DUI repeat offenders by requiring them to submit to twice-a-day testing. An increasing number of States have implemented 24/7 sobriety programs since 2004, when South Dakota first initiated a program. As 24/7 programs are relatively new, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is interested in improving our understanding of how these programs work. This project advances that objective by first conducting a scan of 24/7 sobriety programs and then evaluating program benefits in one or two particular programs. The project involves working with a program and analyzing data on alcohol-involved traffic citations, DUI arrests and convictions, and DUI recidivism rates. The final report will showcase promising practices and potential benefits, as well as lessons learned on meeting the challenges of legislation, program costs and operation, monitoring and evaluation.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $333233
• Contract Numbers:

  DTNH2216D00019-0001

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, D.C.  United States  20590

  Office of Behavioral Safety Research

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, District of Columbia  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Wochinger, Kathryn

• Performing Organizations:

  Preusser Research Group, Incorporated

  7100 Main Street
  Trumbull, CT  United States  06611
• Principal Investigators:

  Wochinger, Kathryn

• Start Date: 20160901
• Expected Completion Date: 20231231
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: Behavioral Safety Research
• Subprogram: Alcohol Impaired Driving

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Drunk drivers; Human factors in crashes; Impaired drivers; Recidivism; Sobriety checkpoints
• Geographic Terms: South Dakota
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01629742
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Contract Numbers: DTNH2216D00019-0001
• Files: RIP, USDOT
• Created Date: Mar 23 2017 4:01PM