Breadcrumb

  1. December is National Impaired Driving Prevention Month

December is National Impaired Driving Prevention Month

Text reads Drink and Drive and You'll See More than Holiday Lights

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), within the U.S. Department of Transportation, with the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration remind you to celebrate safely this holiday season. We stand with all those who have known the tragic consequences of drugged or drunk driving, and we rededicate ourselves to preventing it this December and throughout the year.

December is National Impaired Driving Prevention Month. Families, educators, health care providers, and community leaders are invited to promote responsible decision-making and encourage young people to live free of drugs and alcohol.

Impaired driving includes distracted driving, drugged driving, and drunk driving.

All 50 States and the District of Columbia enforce the minimum legal drinking age of 21 years. NHTSA asks minors to avoid alcohol, and encourages parents and other caregivers to make a new or renewed commitment to never cater a party to underage drinking. If someone you know is drinking, do not let that person get behind the wheel. If you see an impaired driver on the road, contact law enforcement. Your actions may save someone's life, and inaction could cost a life. Families play an essential part in stopping impaired driving. By talking about the risks and setting clear expectations, parents and other caregivers can help their children stay safe, sober, and focused on the road.

Prevention Resources and Toolkits:

  • Traffic Safety Marketing – a website with free campaign posters, TV/radio/web ads, and other resources, including more about NHTSA’s Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving and Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaigns.
  • Too Smart to Start – a website dedicated with evidence-based approaches to help youth, families, educators, and communities prevent underage alcohol use and its related problems.
  • Stop Underage Drinking – a comprehensive portal of federal resources for information on underage drinking and ideas for combating this issue.
  • Teen Drugged Driving: Parent, Coalition and Community Group Activity Guide (PDF) – This guide provides coalitions, prevention groups and parent organizations with: the facts on the dangers and extent of teen and young adult drugged driving; parent and community activities for effective prevention; resources to further assist in prevention activities.
  • The National Criminal Justice Reference Service compilation of resources on impaired driving, including general information, enforcement, and prevention, in observation and recognition of National Impaired Driving Prevention Month.

For More Information:

  • Read the President’s 2012 proclamation here.
  • NHSTA’s Stop Impaired Driving website provides information to help you stop impaired driving in your community.

1 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. (December 9, 2010). The NSDUH Report: State Estimates of Drunk and Drugged Driving. Rockville, MD. Accessible at: http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k10/205/DruggedDriving.cfm
2 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (2007). 2012 Holiday Crackdown Fact Sheet: Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over. Available at: http://www.trafficsafetymarketing.gov/CAMPAIGNS/Drunk+Driving/Drive+Sober+or+Get+Pulled+Over/National+Crackdown/Campaign+Materials