Youthful Drunk Driving Program

OKLAHOMA

PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS PROGRAM AREA(S)
  Innovative or non-traditional approach   Youth Programs
  Targets hard-to-reach/at risk population    Alcohol and Other Drugs
       
TYPE OF JURISDICTION    
  Multijurisdictional    
       
TARGETED POPULATION(S) JURISDICTION SIZE
  Youth   750,000


PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) is the leading cause of death among Oklahoma youth under the age of 25. In 1995, the Tulsa Police Department made 3,676 arrests for alcohol-related offenses; and Tulsa County District Court processed more than 3,000 misdemeanors and felonies for impaired driving. More than 50 percent of the prosecutions were for repeat DUI offenses, and nearly 30 percent of the repeat offenders had already been prosecuted for at least two previous offenses.


GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The Youthful Drunk Driving Program was created in 1996 in response to a recommendation by the state's Underage Drinking Report, which identified a need to develop community initiatives aimed at altering the current behaviors of youth regarding drinking and driving. The goal of the program was the reduction of fatalities and injuries from motor vehicle crashes involving alcohol-impaired youth, and included the following objectives:


STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

The Community Service Council of the Greater Tulsa Area Prevention Resource Center, together with the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office, developed and implemented the Youthful Drunk Driving Program. The program is modeled after a similar program in Orange County, California, and features a partnership of community resources comprised of the Tulsa County District Court, the District Attorney's Office, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), the Tulsa Police Department and a variety of local medical centers. The coalition designed a court-ordered alternative sentencing program for youth offenders of alcohol- or drug-related laws. The program highlights included the following:

RESULTS
Implementation of the Youthful Drunk Driving Program resulted in a very low recidivism rate. At the end of the first 12 months of the program during 1996, only 1.9 percent of 200 youth participants in the program had been re-arrested on an alcohol-related driving charge, compared to the national recidivism rate of approximately 30 percent.

FUNDING
  Section 402:

$20,630

CONTACT  
  Rose Ewing
Project Coordinator
Community Service Council of Greater Tulsa
1430 South Boulder
Tulsa, OK 74119
(918) 585–5551


National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Fall 1997