Wyoming - Impaired Driving Coaltion

Project Characteristics

Outstanding, collaborative effort

Program Areas

Alcohol & Other Drugs

Type of Jurisdiction

State

Targeted Population

General population

Jurisdiction Size

500,000

Funding

Section 154/164: $70K/yr

Contact

Lorrie Pozarik
Dir., Injury Prevention Resources of WY
153 N. 4th St., Ste. B
Lander, WY 82520
(307) 322-2821
(307) 335-9835 fax
stopinjuries@wyoming.com

Digest Listing

WYOMING
Wyoming Impaired Driving Coalition

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

During the past ten years, efforts to prevent impaired driving in Wyoming have resulted in lives saved and injuries prevented on Wyoming roadways. However, the rate at which the problem is being reduced is slow and erratic, and as a result, hundreds of people in communities throughout the state continue to experience the physical and emotional trauma associated with impaired driving every year.

The impaired driving problem is too complex, and resources are too limited, for any one agency or governing body to be able to address it alone. In fact, many individuals and groups have worked tirelessly to prevent impaired driving in the state, but the lack of coordination among those committed to safer roadways has played an important role in the failure of many current efforts to reduce the problem.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goal of this project is to reduce impaired driving in Wyoming by bringing together the most innovative minds and the most committed people that will represent multiple points of view. They will identify, coordinate and implement strategies, on both the state and community level.

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

The Wyoming Impaired Driving Coalition is made up of 75 members representing nearly 25 constituency groups associated with the impaired driving problem. The Coalition is a working group that meets every three months with a specific agenda for each meeting. The Coalition’s first meeting focused on defining the impaired driving problem in Wyoming and on creating an inventory of what was already being done about the impaired driving problem throughout the state. During the second meeting, the Coalition examined both what could be done and what should be done to reduce the impaired driving problem in Wyoming. Members discussed and debated a diverse list of over 50 potential strategies, ultimately focusing on the four strategies with the most potential for success in Wyoming. During subsequent meetings, the Coalition planned for and worked toward, the implementation of the selected prevention strategies.

The Coalition strategies to reduce impaired driving in Wyoming are to:

Provide public information and education on benefits of a 0.08 Blood Alcohol Count (BAC) law and a Graduated Driver Licensing law.
Inform the legislature of the existing loophole in BAC testing time limits, toward a goal of allowing BAC testing within three hours of incident, as is presently done in the watercraft Driving Under the Influence (DUI) law.
Enlighten the legislature about the problems associated with current legal interpretation prohibiting all police roadblocks or checkpoints, including sobriety checkpoints.
Provide public information and education on the benefits of enhanced in-patient treatment for substance abusers.

RESULTS

The Coalition has just begun its second year and has been successful through public education in supporting an effort to introduce [and ultimately pass] the 0.08 BAC law. Work is underway on the balance of the strategies.

NHTSA