As part of Impaired Driving Prevention Month, Sobering Up is taking a look back at the year’s Top 12 Newsmakers in the fight against alcohol-involved crime and Impaired Driving. This post is Part 9 of 12.
The National Traffic Safety Board (NTSB) released its annual Most Wanted list of ways to improve transportation safety in 2013 and beyond. The 10 measures on the NTSB’s list cover air, rail, and infrastructure improvements. And notably on the list: highway safety measures that work towards the elimination of Distracted and Impaired Driving.
Elimination of impaired driving is a tall order. Although the number of people who died in alcohol-related crashes decreased by 2.5% from 2010 to 2011, that decrease has been attributed to many things: stricter laws, high-profile enforcement and education, the expansion of DWI courts, and the use of technologies like Interlock devices and transdermal alcohol monitors, to name a few.
This year the NTSB proposed an aggressive strategy: The development of a comprehensive solution that can be tailored both to deter impaired driving and better coordinate all of the above tactics once it happens. A comprehensive solution would use enforcement and education to deter, while substance abuse programs and technologies would address the root causes of repeat drunk driving: alcohol abuse and addiction. Preventing recidivism is a key part of reducing impaired driving deaths because the repeat, hardcore drunk driver accounts for 2 out of 3 alcohol-related driving fatalities.
The NTSB particularly called attention to the use of technology and programs that hold an offender accountable, but allow them to receive treatment and continue working as alternatives to jail time.
The NTSB’s continued focus on impaired driving is highlighted by the fact that it is one of only four issues from previous years that were selected to remain on the annual list. In 2012, the NTSB also recommended increased collection of drunk driving accident information and Place of Last Drink data, as well the development of better BAC and drug testing and reporting.
The NTSB’s continued focus on technologies that tackle impaired driving are why this initiative made our Top 12 of 2012 list.
