It is well documented that driving after drinking alcohol is a major contributory factor in road traffic accidents (RTAs). The total number of accidents (fatal, serious, slight) involving illegal levels of alcohol in Great Britain has fallen from 19,470 in 1979 to 10,100 in 1998 but since then have increased to 13,150 in 2002. The percentage of road fatalities where all drivers and riders were over the blood alcohol limit (BAC) in Great Britain was 19% in 2002 as it was in 1991 (Department for Transport, 2004). Following conviction for a drink-drive offence, the British Road Traffic Act 1991 enables Courts in England and Wales to refer offenders to a Department for Transport (DfT) approved drink-drive rehabilitation (DR) course. Although course attendance is neither compulsory nor free-of-charge, successful completion results in the reduction of the offender’s disqualification period from driving (a minimum of 12 months) by up to 25%, as well as being offered reduced vehicle insurance premiums. The courses typically involve eight to ten offenders with sessions of two to three hours once a week over eight to ten weeks. Course providers seek to address alcohol issues and effects on performance including driving, and alternatives to drinking and driving. Previous studies (Davies et al, 1999, Davies and Smith, 2003, and Smith et al, 2004) have found that DDR course attendance reduces the reconviction rates of offenders who had attended when compared with those offenders who had not attended (i.e. those offenders who attend a course are less likely to be convicted of a subsequent drink-driving offence). Smith (2003) also found that 59% of all offenders are referred to a course by Court officials and that DDR course take-up rate is over 30% of these referrals. TRL Limited was commissioned by the DfT to evaluate and monitor the operation of the DDR scheme and as part of this to produce best practise guidelines to improve course take-up rates. A survey was designed to investigate the attitudes and behaviours of referred drink-drive offenders in order to fulfil this aim. The objective of the present paper was to investigate the impact of DDR course attendance on self-reported measures of convicted drink-drive offenders, in particular in terms of their: • Alcohol-related knowledge; • Attitude to drink-driving; • Intention to avoid drink-driving in future; • Expectations regarding the likelihood of drink-driving in future; • Reported drink-drive behaviour. This report outlines some initial findings of the survey on drink-drive offenders, describes the methodology and discusses the implications. (Author/publisher)
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