Traffic Tech #99: Establishing Anti-DWI Standards of Behavior Lessons Learned from Public Health Campaigns

Number 99                                                             July 1995

ESTABLISHING ANTI-DWI STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOR LESSONS LEARNED FROM PUBLIC HEALTH CAMPAIGNS

Despite progress in reducing alcohol-impaired crashes, the drunk driving problem will not be solved until changes are made in the public's beliefs and attitudes toward drinking and driving. One approach is to establish stricter Anti-Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) norms. Norms are standards of behavior that people follow because they consider them proper and acceptable. If people will support anti-DWI behavior, because it is the right thing to do and because it is socially accepted, then we can eventually decrease the need for law enforcement and formal sanctions.

Sociometrics, Inc. recently completed a study for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to examine the process of norms change in public health campaigns. The objectives were to examine how various health oriented norms have been established, and determine how to apply the lessons learned to prevent drinking and driving behavior.

The study team interviewed experts involved with smoking, substance abuse, and AIDS prevention campaigns. They also interviewed experts on norms development to provide a theoretical basis.

The discussions focused on two topics. The first was how and why behaviors change over years. Specifically, what techniques are effective in modifying the social acceptance of certain behaviors? For example, what happened to make cigarette smoking socially unacceptable in many environments? What forces were mobilized, and what actions took place? The second topic was whether these techniques can be used in the fight against impaired driving.

The experts agreed that norms change is a process. It is driven by a multitude of different actions and no single action or program will work alone. For smoking, the process began with the Fairness Doctrine and publicizing the dangers of tobacco smoke. Intervention and prevention programs then prompted individuals to stop smoking, or not to start. Taxation increased the price of cigarettes and made smoking more of a financial burden. Legislation further restricted smokers and clarified the rights of nonsmokers.

The experts noted that the health campaigns were effective when their messages were publicized in a varied and sustained manner. Each campaign used public service announcements (PSAs) to promote their cause. PSAs were insufficient alone, however, to target messages to the appropriate audiences and paid advertising was also necessary. Support from the entertainment industry also helped the campaigns.

Legislation and enforcement emphasize the seriousness of specific issues. The debate over enacting new legislation creates publicity on the issue. When laws are enacted, they clarify society's values and norms. And when the laws are enforced, they signal the inappropriateness of the banned behavior.

The researchers identified strategies that can be used to deter drinking and driving. The strategies are based on the principles that ambiguous norms, such as drinking and driving, need to be clarified, linked to social values, and associated with clear social penalties.

Strategies for DWI Programs

1. Support a wide range of efforts to educate the public about the dangers of DWI.

Research shows that campaigns are more effective when they are credible, low key, and varied over time and across populations. A series of messages, rather than a single one, creates a change in norms.

2. Integrate DWI prevention information into formal classroom education.

For high school students, health and drivers' education classes are likely areas for DWI prevention training. For college students, information on actual attitudes and behavior may be an effective intervention strategy. Alcohol is an integral part of many students' campus life and misperceptions of others' drinking may promote alcohol consumption. Correcting misperceptions allows individuals to know that their own views of not driving impaired are supported by their peers.

3. Correct misperceptions about drinking and driving.

Current efforts to combat drinking and driving face the problem that excessive drinking is more observable than moderate drinking or abstinence. This creates the misperception that driving after drinking too much is a relatively frequent occurrence. If people are told that they shouldn't do something, but see others doing it, they do not understand the need to change. We need to inform people that many individuals who drink do not drive, that many drinking groups designate a driver, and that cabs and other transportation are used to get drinkers home.

4. Be clear and consistent about enforcing DWI laws.

Nonenforcement sends mixed messages, while swift arrest and sentencing of impaired drivers lets everyone know that society will not tolerate drinking and driving. This both communicates and clarifies norms.

5. Promote increased taxation on alcohol and target taxes for local DWI enforcement and prevention programs.

Taxation results in price increases that reduce demand. Like other forms of legislation, taxation is one way of setting standards of behavior and com-municating norms. Tax programs that specifically fund enforcement and education make deterrence programs less burdensome for local governments.

6. Make everyone a stakeholder in the DWI legislative process by increasing citizen support.

Promoting the concept that we all have the right to be protected from impaired drivers should be an effective strategy in promoting anti-DWI norms.

7. Encourage support for new DWI legislation to encourage tougher laws and keep DWI issues in the media.

The legislative process promotes an ongoing discussion on society's norms. Lawmaking can be the vehicle for norms change by citizen advocates, government, and private industry groups.

For a copy of Lessons Learned from Public Health Campaigns and Applied to Anti-DWI Norms Development contact: Office of Program Devel-opment and Evaluation, NHTSA, NTS-30, 400 Seventh Street, S.W. Washington, DC 20590, (202) 366-2752, or send a fax to (202) 366-7096. Amy Berning was the contract manager for this study.

U.S. Department of Transportation
National Highway
Traffic Safety
Administration
400 Seventh Street, S.W. NTS-33
Washington, DC 20590

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