New York State is recognized nationally as a leader in traffic safety, in particular for continual progress in reducing alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes and fatalities. In 2002, the New York fatality rate was 0.36 versus 0.61 for the United States. In November 2003, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) assembled a team to review New York’s Special Traffic Options Program for Driving While Intoxicated, known as STOP-DWI. The mission of New York’s STOP-DWI program is to empower and coordinate local efforts to reduce alcohol and other drug-related traffic crashes within the context of a comprehensive and financially self-sustaining statewide alcohol and highway safety program (New York State STOP-DWI Coordinators Association, 2002). The program’s goal is to achieve these reductions through the creation and funding of programs relating to enforcement, prosecution, probation, rehabilitation, public information, education, and administration. In the summer of 1981, State Senator William T. Smith introduced the STOP-DWI legislation, which was considered during the 1981-1982 regular session of the New York State Legislature. This legislation was the result of years of advocacy by Senator Smith, following the death of his daughter by an impaired driver in 1973 (New York STOP-DWI Coordinators Association, 2002). The STOP-DWI Law was enacted in November 1981, and county programs were first implemented in 1982. New York’s STOP-DWI program is the Nation’s first and, to date, only self-sustaining impaired driving program. Other States have implemented components of selfsufficiency, but none to the degree of New York State. The purpose of this report is to provide a review of the New York STOP-DWI program, including: 1. An examination of the mission, goals and program components of STOP-DWI; 2. An examination and description of the social and political context of STOP-DWI, and the historical and modern trends associated with its implementation; and, 3. A discussion of what critical STOP-DWI program elements the State has continuously funded in its efforts towards further reducing alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes and fatalities. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting