Number 344 April 2008

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

Strategic Evaluation States Initiative—Case 

Studies of Alaska, Georgia, West Virginia

Impaired driving is one of the most prevalent and preventable traffic safety and public health problems facing our

Nation. In 1982, there were 26,173 alcohol-related fatalities

in the United States. The National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration, along with National, State andlocalpartners,

launched a National effort to reduce the impaired driving

problem. This effort led to new laws, increased enforcement,

heightened media attention, and a change in public attitudes

that made impaired driving no longer socially acceptable. As

a result, the number of alcohol-related fatalities decreased

significantly between 1982 and 1994.

By the mid 1990s, the decline in alcohol-related traffic fatalities began to stall. Beginning in 1995, there was no substantial improvement in the number of alcohol-related fatalities

and the next seven years produced incremental increases. In

2002, there were over 100 more alcohol-related deaths than

in 1994.

Strategic Evaluation States Initiative

In 2002, NHTSA undertook a new approach that focused

strategically on reducing alcohol-related crashes and the

resulting injuries and deaths by focusing financial and technical resources in States with especially high numbers or

rates of alcohol-related fatalities. Working with its Regional

Offices and the National Center for Statistics and Analysis,

NHTSA identified 13 States to participate in the Strategic

Evaluation States (SES) initiative: Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New

Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia. In

2005, NHTSAinvited Missouri and South Carolina to join the

program, bringing the total number of participating States

to 15. These 15 States accounted for more than half of the

alcohol-related fatalities in the United States.

High visibility law enforcement served as the foundation

for this strategy. The plan called for enhanced levels of

highly visible law enforcement activities during National

impaired driving crackdown periods and ongoing high

visibility enforcement on a monthly basis throughout the

year. Congress provided funding for enforcement and paid

media activities to publicize enforcement efforts, which

further increased the visibility of these efforts. From 2003

to 2005, Congress committed approximately $9 million to

support enforcement activities and $39 million for paid

media support.

Key SES Initiative Components

States participating in the SES initiative agreed to abide by

several key program components:

n Law Enforcement Crackdowns—States committed to participate in the National Impaired Driving Law Enforcement Crackdowns, using highly visible law enforcement

operations, such as sobriety checkpoints and saturation

patrols.

n Sustained Enforcement—States also committed to conduct

highly visible law enforcement operations at least monthly

throughout the year.

n Levels of Participation—States committed to recruit participation from law enforcement agencies during each operation to cover at least 65 percent of the State’s population or

geographic areas of the State where at least 65 percent of

the State’s alcohol-related fatalities occur.

n High Visibility—States committed to conducting law

enforcement operations in a highly visible way, such as

by using signs and obtaining earned media, to increase

public awareness of State and local ongoing law enforcement activities.

n Publicity—With financial support from Congress, NHTSA

produced and purchased paid advertising conveying a

law enforcement message, publicizing law enforcement

activities during the crackdowns, and States committed to

use the message in any advertising they obtained.

n Planning and Coordination—States committed to prepare

and submit to NHTSA plans detailing their enforcement

and communications activities during the crackdown and

ongoing enforcement periods and to coordinate efforts

among participating law enforcement agencies with

their borders.

n Reporting—States committed to submit reports on the

levels of activity achieved, including the number of law

enforcement agencies participating, the number of checkpoints conducted, and the number of arrests made.
SES Initiative Successes

Use of these program components led to a number of successes. For example:

n	 Law enforcement planning and implementation allowed

State and local law enforcement agencies to engage in

more comprehensive, coordinated impaired driving

enforcement strategies and operations.

n	 Paid and earned media using a common message that publicized law enforcement activities increased the public’s

awareness about the National impaired driving campaign.

n	 Improved communication and stronger working relationships among traffic safety organizations at the National,

Regional, State, and local levels resulted in more effective

technical assistance between the various offices. It also

reduced duplication of efforts and maximized resources.

n	 Decreases in alcohol-related fatalities were seen in a number of States, especially when all elements of the model

were being implemented fully.

SES Program Challenges

The SES program, however, presented a number of challenges as well. For example:

n	 It was a challenge forlaw enforcement to increase enforcement activity within existing resource limitations and

without causing officer or agency burnout. Law enforcement agencies at State and local levels sought to overcome

this challenge by using such strategies as low staffing

checkpoints and multi-jurisdictional partnerships.

n	 SES program activities required coordination among a variety of disciplines during program development and implementation. In some cases, these disciplines had previously

worked in isolation, rather than in a coordinated fashion.

n	 It was important that law enforcement agencies inform

prosecutors, judges, and other court personnel about

upcoming enhanced enforcement efforts and to involve

these officials in the planning and implementation phases

of the program. Otherwise, the court system would

remain unprepared for increased caseloads resulting from

enhanced increases in law enforcement activities.

Case Studies From the SES Initiative

Following three years of experience under the SES initiative, NHTSA developed a report that contains case studies

of three States that participated in the program. The three

States—Alaska, Georgia, and West Virginia—were selected

based on the strength of their plans; their use of innovative

strategies to overcome some of the problems they faced; and

because each of these States experienced significant declines

in alcohol-related fatalities in one or more years of the program, although some of these declines were not sustained

over time. These case studies do not represent a formal, scientific evaluation of the overall SES initiative nor should the

approaches be viewed as “one size fits all.” Rather, the case

studies illustrate how each State adopted a sustained, high

visibility impaired driving enforcement strategy and tailored

its approaches to respond to the needs, resources, and political environment that it faced. NHTSA hopes that the case

studies will be useful as implementation guides for planning and conducting effective, sustained impaired driving

enforcement efforts in other States.

Conclusions

Each State faced different challenges, used different techniques to overcome them and learned different lessons.

However, four common themes surfaced in the case studies:

n	 Data were used and strong plans were developed to

achieve high-visibility, multi-agency enforcement operations year-round on a monthly basis with a focus on areas

that represented 65 percent of the alcohol fatality problem

in the State;

n	 Charismatic leadership helped secure commitments

from law enforcement agencies and provided clear guidance on the direction of the impaired driving enforcement program;

n	 Law enforcement training, such as in Standardized

Field Sobriety Testing, was essential to help prepare law

enforcement officers for the operations and to obtain their

personal commitment; and

n	 Targeted messaging was used through earned and paid

media along with extensive outreach efforts to raise public

awareness of these efforts at the State and local level and

increase general deterrence—or stop impaired driving

before it happens.

To Request a Copy of the Report

For a copy of Strategic Evaluation States Initiative—Case 

Studies of Alaska, Georgia, and West Virginia, write to the Office

of Impaired Driving and Occupant Protection, NHTSA,

NTI-111, 1200 New JerseyAvenue SE., Washington, DC 20590

or send a fax to 202-366-2766. You may download the report

from www.nhtsa.dot.gov.

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.

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., NTI-130

Washington, DC 20590