(s abstract): The target of the intervention will be 21-34 year olds, since they have the highest rate of alcohol-impaired driving and the majority of their drinking is done in retail establishments. The existing King County Traffic Safety Coalition will be utilized to accomplish these aims. While designated driver and safe ride home programs have been widely used across the US and in other parts of the world, no evaluation of their impact on citations, crashes, injuries and fatalities has been reported. Thus, this study seeks to address the question of their utility. ? ? The intervention will consist of two separate but inter-related programs: a designated driver program and a safe ride home program. These programs will be promoted throughout the year, not just for holidays as has been done by other communities in the past. The intervention will include a number of components: (1) a broad public education campaign focused on 21-34 year olds, with the message of using designated drivers or safe rides home when out drinking in bars; (2) a focused behavior change intervention occurring in bars in the four target neighborhoods; and (3) resources to enable the desired behavior change. ? ? The outcome measures chosen are based on the investigators prior work in the field, and consist of a random-digit-dialing (RDD) survey, a survey of bar patrons, and examination of administrative data on drunk driving citations, motor vehicle crashes, motor vehicle crash-related injuries and fatalities, and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels of injured individuals. The data from the intervention communities will be examined over time, and compared to two control communities in different cities. In addition to these outcome measures, the project will also examine a number of process measures to assess the degree to which the program has been implemented and used. An important part of this project will be to widely disseminate the study findings. This will be done through a number of venues and involve the collaborators and partners involved in this project. ? ?
