DWI Activism in Cyberspace
"Advocates Against the Socially Unacceptable"
The NCADD
is a group of private and public sector leaders striving to make the driving
impaired socially unacceptable toward the human race. The first report
on this national problem has been established by the Commission on Drunk
Driving appointed by Ronald Regan in 1982. The NCADD has set up a few programs
that are committed in giving information and help to those in need of reformation
from alcohol consumption and socially unacceptable acts. It includes topics
such as: Chronic drivers, Underage Drivers, Traffic Safety Facts and Research
Abstracts.
In their approach to fight drunk driving, the "Traffic Safety Research Abstracts/Applications," is a resource service that focuses on the statistics of drunk drivers and their assumed categories. They argue that these resources should be focused on changing the drinking and driving behavior of these three target populations: Chronic Drunk Driver, 21-34 Year Old Young Adults, and the underage drinker. To assist traffic safety professionals and concerned citizens who care about safer driving conditions, they have created these Traffic Safety Research Abstracts and Applications to summarize the latest scientific knowledge relating to their three target populations.
Young adults ages 21-34 years old remain responsible for more fatal dunk driving crashes than any other age groups. During six public hearings and three conferences about young adult drinking drivers, NCADD directors repeatedly heard testimony and expert opinions that effective solutions to the young adult drinking driver problem can only evolve from the efforts of communities actively addressing the issue of their own volition and with their own resources. The pursuit of these local solutions has led them to the Commission Communities Project. If each community takes ownership of this problem, solutions will be found and can be shared with other communities nationwide. Ultimately, by understanding the change process as it relates to this drunk driving issues, communities will learn how to organize themselves to identify and address other social problems which face them collectively.
"Chronic Drunk Drivers, one of NCADD's three target populations, exhibit driving behavior that is repeatedly impaired by their inability to limit alcohol consumption to moderate and appropriate levels. They are sometimes referred to as Problem Drinkers, or Persistent Drinking Drivers. Regardless of the label, these are people with an underlying alcohol problem that interferes with their driving as well as other aspects of their life." NCADD and The Century Council explored the need for screening for alcohol dependence and addiction for every driver arrested on a DUI/DWI charge to identify the problem, and treatment as part of their sentencing to help the problem.
In my opinion, it is necessary for authorities to do assessments on these chronic drinkers -- without assessment and treatment, there will be no change in the chronic drinker -- he will continue to jeopardize his life as well as others. More effectively, however, would be to take away their license for a period of time (suspension), and after the second offense, take the license away altogether until they are rehabilitated from drinking.
Underage drivers are particularly labeled high risk because they are much more inexperienced than other drivers -- especially while intoxicated. The NCADD has begun a program called Alcohol, Drunk Driving and You -- otherwise known as ADDY to address underage drinking and driving issues. The goals are to prevent and reduce the number of fatalities suffered every year as a result of impaired driving on the part of teens. ADDY has come out with a 20-minute video and a workbook to help students understand the consequences that could occur while under the influence. It is endorsed by the National School Boards Association and the National Association of Governor's Highway Safety Representatives.
I believe that by educating teens at this vulnerable age is crucial for them to understand the importance in the concept of not drinking and driving.
Treatment
of DUI Offenders
The treatment
for DUI offenders is being studied further to help to keep problem
drinkers off the road. Although the traditional sanctions such as
license suspension and incarceration seem to work well with first and second
time offenders, many states need to look at remedies in keeping problem
drinkers off the road. Compared to traditional legal sanctions,
a combined intervention approach consisting of education, licensing sanctions,
psychotherapy/counseling, and follow-up supervision, such as regular contact
with a probation officer or aftercare reduced recidivism and alcohol related
crashes 7-9%. Treatment should be based on a personalized assessment; should
be individualized based on an offender's needs; employ
combinations of strategies (e.g., sanctions, treatment);
not be used as a substitute for sanctions; and should be long enough to
produce meaningful behavioral change.
Other Web Pages Relating to DUI
There are many advocates to help prevent DUI offenders. One such advocate is MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). This organization was started by an outraged mother whose daughter had been killed by a repeat offender. The organization is fighting for stiffer penalties against offenders and also for greater awareness on the part of government and the public.
On top of the MADD organization, there are many listings on the net for DUI activism for each state such as, "DWI - Welcome to Fiandach's NY DWI", or The DWI Resource Center, Abuquerque, New Mexico .
My Impressions from other G10 students
I didn't really find anyone else in my generation that chose the topic of DWI. I did, however, look into generation 8 and they have some solid opinions on what kinds of action we can take in preventing and punishing DUI offenders
Here's a few tips on how to post your reports without any penalty and also some tips on how I proceeded in doing this report.
First and foremost, do not procrastinate. There will always be some kind of revisions that you would like to do after you see your so-called "final version." Be prepared to hand it in on time so that you will not get any type of penalty.
Another thing that will be useful in doing your research is to make sure that you set aside the time to spend many hours on the internet so that you can get good results from your research.
And lastly, do not hesitate to use the knowledge that was previously learned in other psychology classes. Try and relate what you are reading from the clips to the types of behavior that you are familiar with -- it is pretty exciting to know that you can relate what you've learned in a psych class to real life.
There is much information on DWI that we can get from the net including from other generations of Dr. James' class. We can see such opinions and web design and process of obtaining information from: Holly Ishikawa (g8), Kyle Kaneshiro ,Robert Nakagawa,Michael Sakamoto,Michael Silva,Chris Yamaguchi, Nicole Young, Brandon Suetsugu
Instruction page for all reports
