In May the National Transportation Safety Board released 19 recommendations to eliminate impaired driving. This post is the last in a five-part series examining the NTSB’s five safety issue areas.
In the past four posts I’ve explored the NTSB’s recommended countermeasures to affect “meaningful reductions in alcohol-impaired driving crashes.” These include:
- Lowering the legal BAC limit from 0.08 to 0.05.
- Providing high-visibility enforcement of DWI laws.
- Expanding the use of in-vehicle devices that prevent operation by an impaired driver.
- Addressing the challenges of repeat offenders by expanding the use of DWI Courts and 24/7 Sobriety Programs.
Reducing impaired driving is a complex problem that defies a simple solution. Rather, as this graphic illustrates, the NTSB’s recommendations are designed to work in tandem to address different groups of impaired drivers: first-time, repeat, and hardcore.
But how do you know if you’ve achieved “meaningful reductions” in alcohol-impaired crashes without establishing clear goals and measures of success?
To ensure they have a “performance-based, data-driven system,” the NTSB recommends that states:
- Set specific and measurable targets for reducing impaired driving fatalities and injuries.
- List these targets in their impaired driving prevention plan or highway safety plan.
- Provide a mechanism for regularly assessing the success of implemented countermeasures and determining whether the targets have been met.
In Europe, where a number of countries have taken aggressive measures and set clear goals, deaths due to alcohol-impaired driving have decreased by more than 50%.
Some argue that setting goals requires an investment of human and financial resources that states cannot afford. Although many states are struggling financially, there is no excuse not to ensure they are investing their limited funds wisely.
As a mother of a young child, I want to know that each state’s substance-impaired driving programs are working. I want to know that the roadways are safe for me and my family. I want to know that states are investing in programs that are making a difference, and not those that provide political cover. I want to know these answers for my home state of Virginia, as well as the rest of the country.
The NTSB has set the goal of reaching zero deaths and serious injuries from substance-impaired driving. Let’s do the work needed to know if we are making progress toward reaching this goal.
