Connecticut's 2003 impaired-driving high-visibility enforcement campaign.

the interest of information exchange. The opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Department of Transportation or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The United States Government assumes no liability for its contents or use thereof. If trade or manufacturers' names or products are mentioned, it is because they are considered essential to the object of the publication and should not be construed as an endorsement. The United States Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. In 2003, Connecticut initiated a publicity and enforcement campaign to reduce impaired driving and alcohol-related fatalities, particularly among men 21 to 34 years old. The State spent nearly 4 million dollars on the campaign. The campaign began during the July 4 th holiday period, was sustained during the summer and fall, and peaked during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday period. Statewide telephone surveys indicated that drivers reported significantly more often after the campaign that they had heard about impaired driving in Connecticut and had been through or knew someone who had been through a sobriety checkpoint. Telephone surveys also indicated that more drivers thought State and local police were very strict about enforcing the laws against drinking and driving and that a driver who had been drinking was very likely to be stopped by police. Patterns were similar for men 21 to 34 years old. Roadside surveys of driver blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) indicated a significant decrease in the proportion of drivers with a positive BAC at the end of the campaign compared to the previous year. In addition, Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average analyses of the alcohol-related fatality trend for the State and for men 21 to 34 indicated that both rates decreased significantly, by an estimated 2.6 and 1.6 fewer fatalities each month. The total lives saved amounted to 47 statewide and 29 for men 21 to 34 in the year and a half following the campaign's start. Connecticut's number of alcohol-related fatalities remained essentially constant from 1992 to 2002. In addition, the percentage of alcohol-related fatalities (50.6%) out of all crash fatalities (312) during 2001 was higher than the national percentage (41.4%) and was also higher than other New England States (45.9%). Connecticut and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) focused their efforts to reduce drinking and driving, with media efforts focusing particularly on men 21 to 34 because …