IOWA
Youth Alcohol

 

PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS PROGRAM AREA(S)
  Targets hard-to-reach/at risk population   Alcohol and Other Drugs
Youth Programs
       
TYPE OF JURISDICTION    
  State    
       
TARGETED POPULATION(S) JURISDICTION SIZE
  Youth   2,862,447


PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Younger drivers are at higher risk of traffic crash involvement than any other segment of Iowa's population. Individuals between the ages of 16 and 24 represent about 16 percent of Iowa's licensed drivers, yet in 1997, they represented 25 percent of all drivers involved in a fatal crash. Similarly, this age group represented 25 percent of all impaired drivers in alcohol-involved fatal crashes during 1997. Historically, the 16 to 24 year old age group represents over 35 percent of all drinking drivers in injury crashes as well. In addition to the combination of relative inexperience with both driving and drinking, 16 to 24 year olds traditionally have lower rates of seat belt use than older adults. Motorists under 25 account for more than 40 percent of all seat belt citations in Iowa.


GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
In an effort to address these serious safety concerns involving Iowa's youthful drivers, the Iowa Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau developed a statewide Youth Alcohol program in 1998. The following goals and objectives were of primary concern to this project:

  • To encourage and promote the development and implementation of youth alcohol education and prevention programs for elementary, junior high, high school and college students
  • To support the enforcement of Iowa's .02 Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) law for drivers under the age of 21 and other laws pertaining to the purchase and consumption of alcohol by underage persons
  • To reduce the involvement of 15 to 24 year old drivers as a percentage of all impaired drivers from 32 percent to 31 percent by the end of Fiscal Year 1998
  • To reduce the involvement of 15 to 24 year old drivers as a percentage of all impaired drivers in injury crashes from 37 percent to 36 percent by the end of Fiscal Year 1998


STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
Because grant funding in the area of alcohol and other drugs is routinely directed at enforcement, including 16 to 24 year old drinking drivers, the major focus under the Youth Alcohol initiative was education and public information. The Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau contracted with Iowa State University's Department of Public Safety to present its Get A GripŠ program, a highly successful series of workshops which bring together high school students and counselors from around the state for a two day intensive training program on the dangers of impaired driving, alcohol substance abuse and positive alternatives to these self-destructive behaviors. A major theme of the workshops is how to deal with peer pressure and the development of action plans and alternative activities and social events that do not involve the use of alcohol or other drugs.



RESULTS
During Fiscal Year 1998,Iowa State University's Department of Public Safety conducted two 2-day Get A GripŠ training programs for high school students and advisors on positive alternatives to impaired driving. Approximately 132 students and 48 adults attended the workshops, which place strong emphasis on participant interaction. Breakout sessions included the importance of decisions and choices, discouraging drinking and driving through humor, rites of passage and using your own ideas to help solve youth alcohol problems.

 

FUNDING
  Section 402 : $65,000
CONTACT  
 

Mark Campbell
Iowa Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau
307 East Seventh Street
Des Moines, IA 50319-0248
(515) 281-5430


NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION

SPRING 1999