Community Health Proposal

Increased societal emphasis on the problems associated with driving while intoxicated behavior has resulted in the creation of many new programs. Some of these programs are enhanced law enforcement programs (increased enforcement and more severe penalties), while others emphasize treatment (the correction of individual problems). What continues to be unknown with a high degree of certainty is whether any of these policy approaches is dealing effectively with the real causes of driving while intoxicated, or even whether these various policy approaches are effectively reducing the incidence of driving while intoxicated behavior (Usdan, Schumacher, & Bernhardt, 2004).

Worldwide, approximately 50.0 percent of all fatal automobile accidents are due to the influence of alcohol consumption by the drivers involved in such accidents. The risk of being involved in an automobile traffic accident increases geometrically with rises in the blood alcohol count of the vehicle operator. Driving while under the influence of alcohol continues to be a major problem in the United States and in the State of New Mexico (Centers for Disease Control, 2003).

Rio Arriba County is located in north central New Mexico. Of the 41,190 residents of the county, 20,388 (49.5 percent) are male and 20,802 (50.5 percent) are female. With respect t

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igh School Graduate 31.3 26.6 28.6 Some College [Including Associate Degree] 26.3 28.8 27.4 Bachelor's Degree 9.1 13.6 15.5 Graduate or Professional Degree 6.3 9.8 8.9 Re-education of individuals convicted of driving while intoxicated offenses has also been implemented as a solution to the problem (Gruenewald, Millar, Treno, Yang, Ponicki, & Roeper, 1996). Another solution suggested for the problem is treatment for an underlying alcohol abuse problem (Bischof, Rumpf, Hapke, Meyer, & John, 2001).
Yet another suggested solution is the operation by police of sobriety checkpoints at random locations to identify intoxicated drivers and remove them from the road. The true long-term value of sobriety checkpoints, however, is not the intoxicated drivers taken off the road at the time of the stop, but, rather, the deterrent effect of the sobriety checkpoints to cause people to change their behavior and cease, or at least reduce the frequency, of driving while intoxicated, or, more appropriately, driving while intoxicated (DWI) of alcohol or other controlled substances. Several communities have found the operation of sobriety checkpoints to be successful in reducing DW
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Approximate Word count = 3675
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page)

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