Reducing DUI

Drunk Driving

In November 2012, Science Daily published a report that gave us information about an innovative alcohol monitoring program that was imposed on thousands of alcohol-involved offenders. This program occurred in South Dakota and, lo and behold, it was found to reduce repeat DUI arrest and also domestic violence. Sometimes the people caught drinking and driving have alcohol abuse problems and are in need of abuse-solution programs.

When a Sobriety Project examined the first six years of South Dakota’s program, researchers found that when they did frequent alcohol testing with swift and moderate sanctions for those caught using alcohol, it reduced county level DUI arrests by 12 percent and domestic violence arrests by 9 percent.

What all this says is that frequent alcohol testing, with sanctions for violations, can reduce problem drinking and improve health outcomes. So anyone in South Dakota arrested for an alcohol offense can be required to undergo twice-a-day breathalyzer tests—one time in the morning and one time in the evening. If you fail the test, or you don’t show up, you immediately get a short jail term of maybe a day or two. The whole idea was put into effect in 2004 and by the end of 2010 more than 17,000 of the state’s nearly 825,000 residents had participated in the program. There were 3.7 million breathalyzer tests taken in that period and the passing rate exceeded 99 percent. So they are thinking that this program may have reduced heavy drinking with those who were in the program.

All of this seems to be a bit extreme, but it worked. So hats off to these officials. The overuse of alcohol is a very big problem for any one individual to overcome. Perhaps this method works well for those who need the help most of all. If you know someone who wants to get off the use and abuse of alcohol, get them to an inpatient treatment center. There they can get a natural way to detox and get skills to better their lives.

For more info on alcohol abuse programs in your area, contact us.