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In 1994, A New National Impaired Driving Auto Accident Goal Was Set, Reduce Alcohol-Related Driving Fatalities In America To 11,000
In 1994, a new national impaired driving goal was set: reduce alcohol-related driving fatalities in America to 11,000 by the year 2005. Meeting this challenge will require not only doing more, but also doing things differently. An important strategy in reaching this goal is increasing seat belt use. We know that people who are at high risk for impaired driving (ages 15 to 34) are also less likely to wear their seat belt. The statistics show that many of the alcohol-impaired drivers and passengers who die in crashes were not wearing seat belts.
The Partners in Progress: An Impaired Driving Guide for Action report is a blueprint to guide the nation in reducing alcohol-related deaths. Seat belt use is an integral part of the strategies outlined in the report. The following excerpt is from the report:
“Reducing the toll to 11,000 obviously represents a substantial decrease in impaired driving deaths. It will take anti-impaired driving and other countermeasures (such as the proper use of safety belts and other occupant protection technologies) to reach this goal. While safety belt use will not reduce drinking and driving, it is one of the most effective means of reducing death and injury.”
The President’s Initiative for Increasing Seat Belt Use Nationwide is another strategy for increasing seat belt use to 90 percent by the year 2005. To reach these national seat belt and impaired driving goals, the following four-prong approach has proven to be effective:
Expand partnerships at the local, state, and national levels;
Conduct effective public education at the community level addressing both seat belt use and impaired driving prevention;
Enact strong legislation in the areas of occupant protection and impaired driving; and
Embrace active, high visibility law enforcement to achieve higher seat belt use and reduce impaired driving.
Specifically, the Impaired Driving Guide for Action calls for partners to:
Solicit major news outlets to provide a daily “body count” on the number of fatalities reported;
Include statistics on impaired driving, seat belt use, and other issues in communications;
Work with businesses and employers to convince them to set policies regarding mandatory seat belt use while on official business; and
Work with states to pass primary enforcement for seat belts and improved child passenger protection laws.
A key component for success lies in partnerships. The Impaired Driving Guide for Action focuses on developing new, non-traditional highway safety partnerships. The idea is to utilize the existing cadre of highway safety partners and to identify and recruit new partners to the cause. Businesses, employers, and the health care community represent constituencies with great potential for positively influencing the driving behavior of employees and their families, customers, clients, and, ultimately, the communities in which they reside. However, these are not the only targets of interest. It is only through the broadest collective action that we will solve the impaired driving problem.
Those dedicated to reducing impaired driving recognize the benefits of increasing seat belt use. Impaired driving and seat belt advocates can be allies in the effort to increase seat belt use and reduce impaired driving. Seat belts provide additional protection in crashes to high-risk impaired drivers and the motoring public. In 1996, when restraint use was known, seat belts were used by only about 20.6 percent of the fatally injured intoxicated drivers (BAC of 0.10 g/dl or greater), according to NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics & Analysis. Primary seat belt laws allow police officers to stop a suspected impaired driver on a seat belt violation and thus gain more information through that contact. Seat belt use reduces fatality risk by 45 percent and moderate-to-critical injury risk by 50 percent to front-seat passengers using lap/shoulder belts (NHTSA National Center for Statistics & Analysis, 1996). Seat belts, when used, can be your best defense against an impaired driver.
The chart below illustrates how the lack of using restraints contributes to the death of those in the high risk group for impaired driving. Ages 15 to 20 are a particularly vulnerable group. In 1996, 80 percent (1,453) of 15- to 20-year-old passenger vehicle occupants who died in alcohol-related crashes were unrestrained (National Center for Statistics & Analysis, 1996).
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