Traffic Tech #111: Motivating Anti-DWI Behavior Using Existing Values

Number 111                                                             December 1995

MOTIVATING ANTI-DWI BEHAVIOR USING EXISTING VALUES

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. We need to strengthen a social norm (standard of behavior) that says that people should not drive while impaired (DWI) or let others do so. One way to do this is by associating values that are already important to people with the anti-DWI norm. By establishing a foundation for behavior based on personal values, avoiding impaired driving becomes more resistant to outside influence and change.

The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation recently completed a study for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to identify which values are most important to people, and to identify anti-DWI strategies that can be based on those values. They also examined people's use of, and perceptions of, existing countermeasures.

They conducted focus groups with 18 to 29 year-old drivers in three locations: Montgomery County, Maryland; Madison, Wisconsin; and Palo Alto, California. The participants were asked about the things they most valued in their life, and about the settings and situations where their drinking and driving occurs. They were also asked whether countermeasures such as designated drivers are practical given their drinking and driving patterns. All of the participants were alcohol drinkers.

Values

Family and friends topped the list of things most valued in life. Health and accomplishments were also frequently mentioned. When asked about the qualities they value most in a friend, participants noted honesty, loyalty or dependability, and trustworthiness as the most important character-istics. Prevention strategies that focus on the importance of friends, and of being a true friend, may prove valuable.

Things Most Valued

Drinking and Driving

About two-thirds of the those interviewed answered yes to "Have you ever driven after drinking so much that you would have been in trouble with the police if you had been stopped?" The reasons for impaired driving with these participants seem simple -- they have lifestyles that include frequent drinking and at least occasional drinking to intoxication.

Participants already had well developed attitudes towards impaired driving. They said that drinking and driving is dangerous, stupid, and wrong. However, most admitted to driving impaired on occasion, and appeared to feel that this is morally different than driving drunk habitually.

Most respondents have already tried various actions to avoid driving while impaired. The problem is that they are not fully successful or consistent in their efforts, resulting in continued risky behavior. For example, 80 percent of the respondents reported using a designated driver on a regular basis. However, about two-thirds of these individuals said that the designated driver usually drank, many times to intoxication. Participants also reported various forms of peer and social pressure to drink. These included companions urging them to drink, not wanting to appear without a drink in their hand, or a general sense that the occasion called for drinking.

Strategies that may strengthen the norm against driving while intoxicated are shown in the box.

Limited copies of the report, Motivating anti-DWI Behavior Using Existing Values, are available from the Office of Program Development and Evaluation, NHTSA, NTS-30, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20590, or send a fax to (202) 366-7096. Amy Berning was the project manager for this project.

PREVENTION STRATEGIES

The research suggested these strategies to strengthen the norm against driving while impaired:

Teach skills for avoiding drinking and driving. People need to know how to plan ahead of time how to get home or who will drive. They also need lessons in how to convince others that they should not drive. The lessons should involve realistic situations such as large groups of same sex friends buying rounds of drinks at a bar.

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

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:
Linda Cosgrove, Ph.D., Editor, Evaluation Staff Traffic Safety Programs
(202)366-2759, fax (202) 366-7096
E-MAIL:mailto:lcosgrove@nhtsa.dot.gov