New Approach Needed to Combat Drunk Driving

'In Their Own Words' (First in a Series)

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 -- The nation is on the wrong track in its efforts to combat drunk driving. PR campaigns and roadblocks -- the centerpiece of the nation's war on drunk driving -- harass and intimidate responsible adults while failing to target truly drunk drivers, according to traffic safety experts cited in a new report by the American Beverage Institute (ABI).

Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration continue to promote the use of roadblocks that harass responsible adults who drive after drinking adult beverages in moderation. According to the candid comments gathered in this report, even they recognize their strategy isn't working.

      "For 15 years, the United States was winning the war against drunken
      driving ... But at some point in the mid-1990's, the progress stopped
      and then reversed."

                                       - The New York Times, October, 2002

      "Even as states have reduced legal levels, highway deaths associated
      with drunk driving have begun to creep up."

                                       - The Los Angeles Times, October 2003

      "Alcohol-related occupant fatalities [are] up a total of 3 percent,
      and it's all coming out of the high-BAC [drivers].  ... Clearly, the
      implication here is that the usual stuff isn't working ... we did
      something right back in the late 80s, early 90s, and we're not
      managing to do that now."

                                       - Dr. Jeffrey Michael, Director of
                                         NHTSA's Impaired Driving and
                                         Occupant Protection Division