Deaths from alcohol-impaired driving have decreased in the past 20 years1 thanks in part to the work of organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) who promote the “Don't Drink and Drive” message. Likewise, programs like “Teen Night”, which provides fun, alcohol-safe destinations for teens, and “Every Fifteen Minutes,” which features live drinking-driving crash simulations may also have contributed to the decrease. The wide appeal of these educational prevention programs focus on individual behavior and have paved the way for colleges and universities to implement mandatory alcohol awareness courses for incoming freshmen.2
Communities and campuses work hard to teach students how to make healthy choices in the hope of reducing drinking-driving crashes and other alcohol-related incidents. But while educational and other prevention programs offer important lessons, their effect is limited as beer and liquor companies constantly target the same youth as well as the many others not reached by alcohol education efforts.
Individuals need more than education to defend themselves against an alcohol-saturated environment. Just last year, a young man who helped simulate a drinking-driving crash at his high school in Scappoose, Oregon, was injured in an actual drinking-driving crash two weeks later—as the passenger of a friend who had been drinking. And what about college towns? Just outside campus walls alcohol companies bombard students with alcohol promotions and advertisements. Likewise, fans and their families attending games at sports stadiums have been attacked and injured by other fans who are drunk before, during, or after the games.3
To effect long-term change many communities have adopted policies that include environmental strategies. For instance, in Folsom Lake, California, public safety officials and vacationers tired of frequent public drunkenness and drinking-driving incidents instituted a two-year ban on alcohol consumption in day-use areas and on water rafts. The ban led to a decrease in reports of alcohol-related incidents, and rangers say that families are returning and visitors are more respectful of the park.4
When communities fail to address the everyday conditions that contribute to drinking and driving—factors such as easy access and availability from commercial and social sources, outlet density, and promotion and sponsorship—fundamental aspects of the drinking environment are left wide open to Big Alcohol's manipulation. Is it any wonder that the alcohol industry prefers prevention approaches that focus on personal behavior change rather than environmental change?5
Environmental prevention benefits the entire community. Its positive impacts give a critical advantage in reducing alcohol problems now and into the future.6 To get your community on the road to effective prevention, order the Marin Institute’s action guide, Solutions to Community Alcohol Problems: A Roadmap for Environmental Prevention.
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