The Road Traffic Act 1991 allows certain Courts to offer drink/drive offenders the opportunity of attending a rehabilitation course. If offenders successfully complete the course, the period of disqualification from driving can be reduced by up to 25 per cent. The Transport Research Laboratory has been monitoring the effect of the courses for the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions. This paper summarises the design of the experiment and discusses the similarities and differences between a group of offenders who attended the rehabilitation courses and other drink/drive offenders. Rehabilitation training had a positive effect on offender attitudes and knowledge. The reconviction rate of the rehabilitated driver population, 24 months after the initial conviction was a third of the rate for other drink/drive offenders. (Author/publisher)
Abstract