Number 332 August 2007

Traffic Safety Facts

Traffic Tech – Technology Transfer Series

U.S. Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

In 2002, West Virginia became one of 13 Strategic Evaluation States to make a commitment to participate in the

National Impaired Driving High Visibility Enforcement

Campaign, coordinated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The 13 States were 

chosen because of their high alcohol-related fatality rate

and/or number of alcohol-related fatalities. West Virginia 

conducted its impaired driving campaign in accordance

with the NHTSA high visibility enforcement model. 

During the 2003 July 4th holiday period, West Virginia

kicked off its campaign, which still continues. The campaign was evaluated for the period of 27 months, ending in September 2005. The campaign consisted of three 

main components: (1) enhanced periods of enforcement 

surrounding summer and winter holidays focusing on

the use of sobriety checkpoints, (2) sustained enforcement between holidays and (3) media with an enforcement message. The enforcement component involved two 

crackdowns. Each crackdown was to cover 85 percent of 

the States’ population and use sobriety checkpoints and

saturation patrols. Both paid and earned media supported 

West Virginia’s DWI enforcement and delivered a strong

enforcement message. 

Enforcement

Sobriety checkpoints constituted a large part of the enforcement effort, but saturation patrols were the most

frequent enforcement method. West Virginia held a reported total of 810 enforcement activities in the 6 targeted 

counties from 2003 through 2005. The total enforcement 

averaged 135 activities for each targeted county across the

three year period reported here (approximately 7 per week 

during each crackdown period and 3 times per week during the remaining periods of the year). The total enforcement for non-targeted counties averaged 64 activities per 

county during the same two and a half year period. The 

State held an increasing number of sobriety checkpoints

and saturation patrols from 2003 through September 2005,

particularly in targeted counties.

Paid Media

To support the national impaired driving campaign, Congress appropriated $11 million for paid media in 2003. Of 

the total, $500,000 was spent to develop the national advertisement, $5.5 million was spent to purchase air time 

on national TV and the remainder was used to purchase

media in the 13 Strategic Evaluation States (of which 

$101,214 was spent in West Virginia). The media targeted 

young men 21 to 34 because of the age group’s overrepresentation in alcohol-related crashes. In addition, West 

Virginia invested an additional $363,910 on paid media 

from 2003 through 2005. 

Evaluation

West Virginia conducted driver licensing office surveys 

before and after each holiday crackdown to measure

public awareness. Survey data indicated that there was 

a statistically significant 29.7 percentage point increase 

from the first 2003 pre July 4th survey to the post Labor 

Day 2005 in the number of respondents from targeted

counties who reported seeing or hearing messages

about alcohol-impaired driving in West Virginia. There 

were also significant increases after each holiday crackdown in targeted counties. There was no significant 

change in non-targeted counties. Over the course of the 

campaign, the proportion of driver licensing office survey respondents in targeted counties recognizing the

You Drink & Drive. You Lose. slogan increased by 41 

percentage points.

In addition, from 2003 to 2005, immediately before and

after each crackdown period, public awareness telephone

surveys were administered to a statewide sample of drivers who had consumed an alcoholic beverage in the last

year. Results from these surveys show that, across all 

three years, there was a significant increase in the proportion of respondents that saw or heard messages and special police efforts to reduce driving under the influence or 

driving drunk in their communities. During each crackdown, the proportion ofrespondents who reported seeing

West Virginia’s Impaired Driving High Visibility 

Enforcement Campaign
TRAFFIC TECH is a publication to disseminate information about

traffic safety programs, including evaluations, innovative programs, and new publications. Feel free to copy it as you wish. If you 

would like to receive a copy, contact Patricia Ellison-Potter, Ph.D., 

Editor, fax 202-366-7096, e-mail: traffic.tech@dot.gov.

or hearing about the police setting up checkpoints or other

enforcement efforts to catch impaired drivers increased.

Direct Observations of Driver BACs

West Virginia also conducted roadside surveys in targeted counties monthly from April 2004 through November 

2004 and during April, May, and June of 2005 (for a total of 11 months) to measure drinking and drivers on the 

road. Driver blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) were 

collected at sobriety checkpoints in each targeted county

to directly measure the effect of enforcement and publicity on drinking and driving. The research team obtained 

voluntary, blind, anonymous BACs from randomly selected drivers on handheld breath-testing devices. Generally, about 96 percent or more drivers agreed to the BAC 

test. The team collected 3,202 BAC samples from drivers 

during 2004 and 993 BAC samples from drivers during 

April, May, and June of 2005.

Overall, there was a statistically significant 2.8-percentagepoint decrease in drivers with a positive BAC from April, 

May, and June of 2004 to the same months in 2005. The 

breath test refusal rates for both periods were also low. 

Figure 1: West Virginia Roadside Survey: Driver BACs 

(2004 versus 2005)

Male drivers with a positive BAC at checkpoints decreased 

significantly by 3.2 percentage points over the same two 

periods (from 8.3 percent to 5.1 percent). 

Alcohol-Related Fatalities

There was a significant “sudden and sustained” decrease 

in the alcohol-related fatality trend for targeted counties

in the 18 month period from July 2003 through December 

2004 compared to the trend from January 2000 through

June 2003, indicated by ARIMA modeling. ARIMA analysis also determined that the approximate reduction in 

the number of alcohol-related fatalities was .98 lives each 

month for the 18 months following the beginning of the 

campaign for a total estimate of about 18 lives saved in 

the targeted counties during this time. Analyses of the alcohol-related fatalities for men 21 to 34 years old in the

targeted counties yielded a predicted reduction of .09 

lives per month, but the reduction was not statistically

significant. Figure 2 shows the predicted reduction in alcohol-related fatalities in targeted counties as a result of

the campaign.

Figure 2: West Virginia Predicted Alcohol-Related 

Fatalities for Targeted Counties (2000-2004)

Summary 

West Virginia’s impaired driving high visibility enforcement campaign was designed to reduce impaired driving

and ultimately, alcohol-related crash fatalities. In targeted 

counties, West Virginia significantly reduced the alcohol-related fatality trend and the number of drivers with

a positive BAC when they implemented the full NHTSA 

impaired driving campaign model. The reduction in alcohol-related fatalities saved an estimated 18 lives over an 

18-month period in West Virginia. 

How to Order

For a copy of West Virginia’s Impaired Driving High Visibility Enforcement Campaign (29 pages plus appendices) 

write to the Office of Behavioral Safety Research, NHTSA, 

NTI-130, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 

20590, send a fax to 202-366-7096, or download from 

www.nhtsa.dot.gov. John Siegler, Ph.D., was the contract 

manager. 

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., NTI-130

Washington, DC 20590

7

6

5

4

3

2

Estimated Number of

Alcohol-Related Fatalities

1

JAN 2000

MAR 2000

MAY 2000

JUL 2000

SEP 2000

NOV 2000 JAN 2001

MAR 2001

MAY 2001

JUL 2001

SEP 2001

NOV 2001

JAN 2002 MAR 2002

MAY 2002

JUL 2002

SEP 2002 NOV 2002 JAN 2003

MAR 2003

MAY 2003

JUL 2003

SEP 2003

NOV 2003

JAN 2004

MAR 2004

MAY 2004

JUL 2004 SEP 2004

NOV 2004

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

%

April '04

May '04

June '04

April '05

May '05

June '05