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PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Hall County, Nebraska
is ranked second in the state, among other counties, for Driving Under
the Influence (DUI) of alcohol arrest rates, during the last period
for which data have been available—1996. In 1997, the Nebraska Department
of Highway Safety designated Hall County as their highest priority,
in central Nebraska, to target alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes
and DUI arrests.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The goal of the Driving
Unimpaired program is to reduce traffic crash-related fatalities involving
the use of alcohol in Hall County, by 25 percent. To accomplish this
goal, the following objectives were developed:
- To build a partnership
of involved agencies to collaborate on the problem of alcohol related
crashes and fatalities in the county
- To develop a focused
alcohol education effort
- To increase participation
in alcohol education programs which are mandated by the courts and
the probation office to 80 percent of convicted impaired drivers
- To reduce the recidivism
rate of adults and minors convicted of first offense Minor in Possession
(MIP) or DUI charges
STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
During 1997,
the Central Nebraska Council on Alcoholism (CNCA) met with the Hall
County Attorney's staff, Hall County Court judges, Hall County Probation
staff, and the St. Francis Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center to address
the county's traffic safety problems related to alcohol use. The participants
at this strategy meeting agreed to address this countywide issue primarily
through reinforcing and improving elements of an existing alcohol education
program. The existing program, Talking About Alcohol: Driving Unimpaired,
is the cornerstone of alcohol education for adults and minors convicted
of first offense MIP or DUI charges. Specific refinements to Talking
About Alcohol: Driving Unimpaired were designed to assure the success
of the new emphasis on the program:
- At the
outset, the partners reviewed the policies and procedures of the Talking
About Alcohol: Driving Unimpaired program for inconsistencies
in the referral process, and to identify areas where the program could
use improvement
- Based on
their review of the policies and procedures, the partners recognized
the need to provide special services to Spanish-speaking people
- The services
of a certified Spanish-English bilingual instructor were purchased
to provide monthly education sessions to the local Hispanic-American
community
- Alcohol
education sessions, to be conducted at the offices of the Central
Nebraska Council on Alcoholism, were introduced for the benefit of
convicted MIP offenders. These education sessions are provided monthly
- Regularly
scheduled alcohol education sessions for adult DUI offenders were
introduced into the program of the St. Francis Alcohol and Drug Treatment
Center. An alcohol education training program for the St. Francis
staff was also implemented, so that responsibility for delivery of
the DUI education sessions could permanently shift to St. Francis
staff
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