Number 372 March 2009

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

Background

NHTSA’s 2006 national impaired driving high-visibility

enforcement program was based on previous findings

that well-publicized and highly visible enforcement

can reduce alcohol-related crashes, fatalities and injuries. NHTSA modeled the national 2006 Labor Day holiday campaign on the successful national program to

increase seat belt use. The seat belt program, Click It or

Ticket (CIOT), included short-duration, intensive law

enforcement, supported by paid and earned media that

emphasized heightened enforcement efforts and was

a proven method to raise seat belt use within a short

period of time. The 2006 impaired driving program of

enforcement and media occurred during the Labor Day

holiday period. National advertisements carried the

slogan, Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest.

The crackdown placed particular emphasis on young

adult males between 18 and 34, a demographic overrepresented in impaired driving crashes. The centerpiece of the paid media effort included a national

television advertisement showing young adult males

being arrested for driving drunk. The 2006 effort

encompassed 18 consecutive nights of intensive driving while intoxicated (DWI) enforcement beginning

August 18, 2006. Enforcement used high-visibility DWI

check-points and saturation patrol techniques.

Evaluation Methods

NHTSA completed process and outcome evaluations

of the impaired driving crackdown. Paid and earned

media data were collected from NHTSA’s national

media contractors, the Tombras Group and AkinsCrisp

Public Strategies. Data included the dollars spent on

the national advertisement purchase, the number of

news events, and the stories captured and counted

by news clipping services. State-by-State activity data

were reported using NHTSA’s Web-based system,

www.mobilizationsdata.com. States reported dollars

spent on media types (television, radio, billboard, and

newsprint) and details of local law enforcement agency

efforts over the course of the 2006 Labor Day holiday

campaign.

The 2006 National Labor Day Impaired Driving 

Crackdown: Over the Limit. Under Arrest.

Additional evaluation sources included the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data (2001-2006), which

were examined for annual trends in DWI arrests. Data

from NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System

(FARS) was used to analyze trends in alcohol-related

fatalities.

Two national, random sample telephone surveys were

conducted by M. Davis and Company, Inc., the first

prior to the crackdown and the second immediately after the campaign’s conclusion. A second set of national,

random sample telephone surveys were conducted

surrounding end-of-year 2006 activities by TMR, Inc.

Results

NHTSA and the States (20 States reporting) spent over

$18 million on the Labor Day advertisement campaign.

Enforcement efforts implementedconcurrently with the

paid advertisement campaign resulted in over 40,000

arrests. Comparing 2006 to 2005, UCR data indicated

higher annual DWI arrest rates in 26 of the 49 States

providing data, whereas the rates in 3 States remained

unchanged, and the rates decreased in 20 States. Nearly

8,500 State and local law enforcement agencies participated in the 2006 Labor Day holiday enforcement

blitz.

National telephone survey results indicated that the

media effort reached the general public and the 18-

to 34-year-old age group in particular. Several survey

items indicated that the 2006 Labor Day holiday campaign heightened awareness of law enforcement efforts

to arrest intoxicated drivers. For example, respondents

were asked if they had seen or heard of any special effort by police in their community to reduce driving under the influence or driving drunk in the past 30 days.

Figure 1 shows that there was a significant increase in

awareness of enforcement activity after the campaign

for all respondents and for the targeted 18-to-34 male

driver group. Over two-thirds of overall participants

reported drinking alcohol, and nearly a quarter admitted to some level of drinking and driving (see Figure

2). Ahigher proportion of young respondents indicated
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 Dr. Angela Eichelberger,

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., NTI-130 Editor, fax 202-366-7394, e-mail: traffic.tech@dot.gov. Washington, DC 20590

drinking and driving in the past 30 days. The proportion of respondents that reported drinking and driving

measured lower in the post-wave. Only 4% of the general respondents reported driving when they thought

they had too much to drink and drive safely in the past

30 days, and that did not change over time.

Figure 1. Seen or heard about DWI enforcement in 

past 30 days

Figure 2. Reported drinking & driving in past 30 days.

Despite the clear increase in awareness that resulted

from the 2006 impaired driving crackdown, FARS data

indicated only a small decrease in the number of fatally

injured drivers having positive blood alcohol concentrations in that age range from 2005 to 2006. Figure 3

shows trends in alcohol-related crashes from 2003 to

2006.

Figure 3. Alcohol-Related Crashes per 100k VMT January 

2003 – December 2006

Case Studies of 8 States

Accompanying the evaluations are case studies that

documented recent efforts in eight States with highvisibility enforcement programs. The case studies are

descriptions of programs coupled with data that show

recent progress in Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia,

Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Tennessee, and West

Virginia.

Conclusion

Enforcement and media were core elements for the nationwide effort coordinated under NHTSA’s direction

for the Labor Day holiday period in 2006. Nearly onethird of national awareness survey respondents said

they were “likely” to be stopped if they were driving

while impaired by alcohol at the end of the campaign;

an increase from 27 to 32%. However, the percentage

of respondents who said they drove after drinking too

much in the past month remained unchanged at 4%.

Sustained enforcement throughout the year is needed

to reduce impaired driving. Reductions in alcoholrelated crashes may require concentrated, intense, and

unrelenting enforcement month after month.

How to Order

Downloada copyofThe 2006 National Labor Day Impaired 

Driving Crackdown: Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under 

Arrest (113 pages) from NHTSA.dot.gov, or write to the

Office of Behavioral Safety Research, NHTSA, NTI-130,

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590,

fax 202-366-7394.

All Respondents

Pre=1,215 | Post=1,234

Respondents Ages 18-34

Pre=269 | Post=228

100%

75%

50%

25%

32%

48%**

28%

44%**

0%

Pre-Wave

Post-Wave 0.44

0.46

0.48

0.50

0.52

0.54

0.56

0.58

0.60

Jan 03

May 03 Sep 03

Jan 04

May 04 Sep 04

Jan 05

May 05 Sep 05

Jan 06

May 06 Sep 06

All Respondents

Pre=1,215 | Post=1,234

Respondents Ages 18-34

Pre=269 | Post=228

100%

75%

50%

25%

32%

48%**

28%

44%**

0%

Pre-Wave

Post-Wave