Auto Club Encourages Entries for Drinking & Driving Prevention Award
9 October 1998
Auto Club Encourages Colleges & Universities to Submit Entries for Drinking & Driving Prevention Award
LOS ANGELES--Oct. 8, 1998--Results of a new national study confirm the findings of previous studies that drinking among college students is at dangerously high levels.
Because of concerns over the consequences of student drinking, the Automobile Club of Southern California and the Higher Education Center for Alcohol & Other Drug Prevention are encouraging colleges and universities to submit entries for the second annual Southern California College & University Drinking and Driving Prevention Award.
The award recognizes Southern California college and university programs that prevent or reduce campus drinking and driving or control campus alcohol or other drug use which can result in impaired driving.
In the most recent study released last month, the Harvard School of Public Health reported that nationally, 27.9 percent of students were drunk three or more times in the past 30 days, up from 22.9 percent in 1993. The proportion of binge drinkers decreased slightly from 44.1 percent in 1993 to 42.7 percent during that same time period, but the proportion of frequent binge drinkers rose from 19.5 percent in 1993 to 20.7 percent. Binge drinking is defined as five drinks in a row for men and four drinks in a row for women.
Drinking and driving has also shown a notable increase. Among students who drank in the past year, 35.8 percent drove after drinking, compared to 31.6 percent in 1993, an increase of 13 percent. Among occasional binge drinkers, 43 percent drove after drinking; 59 percent of frequent binge drinkers drove after drinking.
"The alarming results of such studies clearly show lots of work needs to be done in addressing campus alcohol problems," said Arline Dillman, Ph.D., the Auto Club's traffic safety expert.
"Binge drinking can lead to death, serious illness, impaired driving, aggressive behavior, and poor academic performance. Our goal for the award program is to recognize and reward colleges and universities that have been responsive to the problems associated with alcohol consumption among their students."
The University of California, San Diego won last year's Drinking and Driving Prevention Award for an innovative student-run program that focused on educating the campus community about the impact of drinking alcohol. The program included a campus-wide alcohol information campaign, tips for responsible party hosting and efforts to implement integrated and consistent campus alcohol policies.
"We will be looking for programs that have made an impact on campus and the nearby community by decreasing student drinking, drug use or driving under the influence, whether the approach involves improving campus policies, public information and education, transportation, treatment, the social and community environment or other programs and policies," added Dillman.
A $1,000 award is available in each of two categories: student programs -- exceptional efforts by students or student groups, and, campus and community programs -- exceptional efforts in administration or faculty leadership or campus-community partnerships. Awards are available to schools located in the Auto Club's 13-county Southern California service area: Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura.
A brochure that provides full details about the award and entry requirements is available by calling 714/885-2300. Information may also be obtained from the Auto Club's Web site at www.aaa-calif.com or the Higher Education Center's site at www.edc.org/hec. Entries should be submitted by Jan. 15, 1999, to Dr. Steven A. Bloch, Public Affairs A131, Automobile Club of Southern California, 3333 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626-1698.
Entries will be judged on overall program quality, program administration and effectiveness in achieving goals. The evaluation committee consists of drinking and driving prevention experts from the Auto Club; Higher Education Center; California Office of Traffic Safety; University of California, Santa Barbara; San Diego State University; Texas A&M University; New Mexico Traffic Safety Bureau; and the National Transportation Safety Board.
The Auto Club maintains a variety of ongoing DUI and traffic safety programs, including bilingual Spanish-English community outreach; school alcohol education; mature driving program; DUI and traffic safety education; and legislative advocacy.
The Higher Education Center, funded since 1993 by the U.S. Department of Education, is the nation's primary resource for assisting colleges and universities to develop and carry out alcohol and other drug problem prevention on campuses and in surrounding communities.
The Automobile Club of Southern California, the largest affiliate of the AAA, has been serving members since 1900. Today, Auto Club members benefit by the organization's emergency road service, financial products, travel agency and trip planning services, highway and transportation safety programs, insurance products and services, automotive pricing, buying and financing programs and legislative advocacy.
