AAA Texas Honors The University of Texas, Austin, for Drinking and Driving Prevention Program

    AUSTIN, Texas--Oct. 15, 2002--The University of Texas, Austin (UT) has won the $5,000 grand prize from the AAA Texas College and University Drinking and Driving Prevention Awards Program. The competition challenges universities in six western states to develop and implement programs to prevent student drinking and driving. In all, five universities were awarded a total of $9,000.
    UT earned the award for its wide-ranging Longhorns Against Drunk Driving program. The program included an online student alcohol and drug use survey, alcohol education during new student orientation, four seasonal events, and an extensive media campaign involving stuffers, stickers, posters, radio messages and on-campus TV announcements.
    "Rates of drinking and driving are at levels that raise great concern," said Anne O'Ryan, manager of public affairs for AAA Texas. "A recently released study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism indicated that drinking by U.S. college students contributes to 1,400 deaths and half a million injuries annually."
    The study further found that 2.1 million students, or one-fourth of college students ages 18-24, drove under the influence of alcohol last year. While most students drink moderately or abstain, about two in five students engage in "binge drinking" (defined as five or more drinks in a row for men and four or more in a row for women).
    State prize amounts of $1000 were awarded to California State University, Bakersfield; Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah; New Mexico State University in Las Cruces; and Santa Clara University, in California.
    To address problems associated with drinking among college students, the College and University Drinking and Driving Prevention Award was developed five years ago. It is a joint program of AAA Texas and the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse (HEC). The award recognizes campus programs and activities that reduce drinking and driving or prevent alcohol or other drug use that can result in impaired driving. Also participating are the Automobile Club of Southern California, the California State Automobile Association, AAA New Mexico, AAA Hawaii, AAA Utah and AAA Nevada. The HEC is the nation's primary resource for assisting colleges and universities to develop and carry out alcohol and other drug problem prevention on campuses and in surrounding communities.
    The award presentation will take place in the Glenn Maloney Room of the Student Services Building (SSB) at the 100 block of W. Dean Keeton Street at UT Austin at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2002.
    AAA Texas, an affiliate of AAA, has been serving Texans since 1902. Today, more than a million AAA Texas' members benefit by the organization's roadside assistance service, travel agency, financial products, automotive pricing, buying and financing, trip planning services and traffic safety programs. Information about these products and services is available on AAA Texas' Web site at www.aaa-texas.com.