For nearly a quarter of a century, the President of the United States has proclaimed December National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month, know colloquially as 3D Month.

President George W. Bush followed suit this year saying in his official proclamation, “My administration remains committed to saving lives and preventing injuries resulting from drunk and drugged driving.”

According to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes accounted for 16,694 deaths last year, nearly 40 percent of all vehicle fatalities. In fact, they estimate someone dies from alcohol-related accidents every half hour.

As part of the national campaign, the Utah Department of Public Safety is promoting NHTSA’s “You Drink & Drive, You Lose” campaign, in conjunction with the “Click it or Ticket” media campaign, said Teri Pectol, program manager with the traffic safety division.

Pectol said drunken driving is a problem everywhere. Of the 1,961 crashes that were drug and alcohol related in Utah last year, 1,078 resulted in injuries and 72 were fatal

Those numbers represent a 53 percent increase from 2003, and that’s despite the fact there were more than 14,000 DUI arrests in the same period.

“Even though law enforcement are out there working as hard as they can to get those people off the road, as long as people are still are still dying, it’s still something we have to worry about,” Pectol said.

The Department has also provided 700 overtime hours for law enforcement this month, which will allow them to be out in even greater numbers.

“You will see a lot of police on the roads,” said Enid Hudson, secretary of Mother’s Against Drunk Driving.

The Salt Lake City chapter of MADD is adding their support to the effort by sponsoring radio ads. Hudson said the spots will air primarily on 103.5 FM.

The Utah County Health Department is not working on project directly related to the national 3D month, but they are working on legislations that will come before the Utah legislature in January.

If passed, the legislation will implement a tough cashier training program statewide that the county has been using for a year and a half with good success, said Pat Bird, with the Utah County Substance Abuse Department. The program should decrease the wrongful sale of alcohol.

Other issues the legislature may look at are renewing the Plea in Abeyance program and increasing the use of ignition interlock devices, a breath analyzer attached to the car ignition that will allow the car to start only if it doesn’t detect the presence of alcohol.



Copyright Brigham Young University 5 Dec 2005