Reaching Zero: Actions to Eliminate Alcohol-Impaired Driving
Abstract
This safety report represents the culmination of a year-long National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) effort focused on the problem of substance-impaired driving. The report addresses the necessity of providing all the following elements to achieve meaningful reductions in alcohol-impaired driving crashes: stronger laws, improved enforcement strategies, innovative adjudication programs, and accelerated development of new in-vehicle alcohol detection technologies. Moreover, the report recognizes the need for states to identify specific and measurable goals for reducing impaired driving fatalities and injuries, and to evaluate the effectiveness of implemented countermeasures on an ongoing basis.
Specifically, in the report, the NTSB makes safety recommendations in the following safety issue areas: reducing the per se blood alcohol concentration limit for all drivers; conducting high-visibility enforcement of impaired driving laws and incorporating passive alcohol sensing technology into enforcement efforts; expanding the use of in-vehicle devices to prevent operation by an impaired driver; using driving while intoxicated (DWI) courts and other programs to reduce recidivism by repeat DWI offenders; and establishing measurable goals for reducing impaired driving and tracking progress toward those goals.
