COLORADO: MANDATORY EVALUATIONS FOR CONVICTED DRINKING DRIVERS
Legislation effective on 1 October 1979 made it mandatory in Washington for the courts to consider alcohol education and treatment resources as alternatives to traditional sanctions against the abusive drinking driver. A review is presented of the history, philosophy, responsibilities and procedures of the resulting Alcohol and Drug Driving Safety Program. The plan, which combines early identification and intervention with a combined health/legal approach, effectively reduces recidivism. Responsibilities of the program, of the trained evaluators and of the Judicial Department are discussed. Fees for evaluation and monitoring are collected by the courts and forwarded to the State Treasurer's Office, thus giving the alcohol treatment programs recourse for collection of past due accounts. A probationary drivers license may be issued to those cooperating with the court sentence. The Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division is responsible for licensing the alcohol treatment programs. Program procedures and guidelines are described. Defendants are classified as either a social drinker, an incipient problem drinker, or a problem drinker (criteria tabulated). Through the cooperation of the Division of Highway Safety staff and other state and local agencies, evaluators were already on staff in 22 Colorado judicial districts when the law became effective.
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Supplemental Notes:
- Published in HS-805 537, "1980 NCA Alcohol and Traffic Safety Session Proceedings," Washington, D.C., 1980, pp 66-80. Session held at Seattle, Washington, 5-7 May 1980.
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Corporate Authors:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC United States 20590 -
Authors:
- Musselman, L
- Publication Date: 1980
Media Info
- Pagination: 15 p.
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Alcohol use; Drunk drivers; Drunk driving; Law enforcement; Laws; Licenses; Probation; Safety programs; Traffic safety education
- Old TRIS Terms: Alcohol education programs; Probationary license
- Subject Areas: Education and Training; Law; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00382091
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Report/Paper Numbers: HS-030 666
- Files: HSL, USDOT
- Created Date: Mar 30 1984 12:00AM