Impaired Driving Solutions

We uplift communities by delivering curated solutions to end impaired driving

Our Approach

Impaired driving causes thousands of preventable deaths and injuries each year. For most impaired drivers, a single contact with the justice system is enough to compel them to change their behavior. But approximately 1/3 of all impaired drivers require more significant intervention to prevent them from continuing to pose a danger on our roads.

We partner with federal agencies, state highway safety offices, local jurisdictions, and leaders in the private sector to implement, expand, and improve evidence-based interventions that respond to impaired driving with the right combination of accountability and treatment.

Interventions at Every Intercept

The Sequential Intercept Model is a roadmap that helps communities support individuals impacted by substance use, mental health, and co-occurring disorders. Six intercepts offer critical opportunities to apply evidence-based interventions that reduce crime, reduce recidivism, and restore health and productivity to communities.

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We implement interventions across every intercept that ensure those at risk of impaired driving are identified and routed to an appropriate, evidence-based response.

Understanding Risk and Need

Ending impaired driving will not be accomplished through a one-size-fits-all approach.

Decades of research confirms that justice system responses should be matched with an individual’s risk of committing future crime, criminogenic needs like substance use and criminal thinking, and factors that will make them more or less likely to respond to treatment and support.

We help jurisdictions implement screening, assessment, and referral protocols to ensure impaired drivers are placed in the intervention most likely to produce the best possible outcomes. When resource gaps exist, we help communities develop new programs and services to meet local needs.

Our Priorities

Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment
Impaired Driving Treatment Courts
Treatment and Recovery
Drug-Impaired Driving

Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment

SBIRT is an early intervention model for people with problematic alcohol and other substance use and one of the most effective ways to identify individuals at risk for impaired driving.

The model consists of three critical steps:

Screening:
Use a validated screening tool to identify people at risk for having or developing substance use disorder

Brief Intervention:
Provide a targeted intervention matching their clinical needs focused on raising awareness of their risky behavior and setting up a framework for behavior change by identifying areas of their life requiring support.

Referral to Treatment:
Immediate access to treatment programs, treatment courts, or other interventions that meet their needs.

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Impaired Driving Treatment Courts

Impaired Driving Treatment Courts (formerly DWI Courts) are among the most successful justice interventions for repeat and high-risk impaired drivers.

These programs offer a coordinated response that involves:

Accountability
Supervision, frequent court appearances, monitoring, and testing

Treatment
Mandated treatment based on an individual’s risk and need

Recovery Support
Housing, employment, and other critical supports that support and sustain recovery

We offer a suite of resources to assist jurisdictions with implementing and enhancing impaired driving treatment courts or with strengthening responses to impaired driving for other treatment court types.

Learn More One pager Training

Treatment and Recovery

Our work is grounded in an understanding of the latest science on substance use disorder treatment and recovery capital.

Collaborative Treatment Planning
Treatment is most effective when individuals are engaged in the process early and work with treatment providers on a plan.

Continuum of Care
Many impaired drivers are assessed at needing a range of service needs, including inpatient, residential, intensive outpatient, outpatient, and co-occurring disorder treatment, medication management, and recovery housing services.

Co-Occurring Disorder Treatment
Impaired drivers should be screened for co-occurring substance use and mental health or trauma symptoms and treated using an integrated model that addresses the full spectrum of clinical needs.

Recovery Management
Throughout treatment, individuals should be connected with recovery support and recovery networks in their community, including peer support, and engage in recovery capital mapping to understand the positive and negative forces in their lives that will impact their recovery.

Treatment provider training

Drug-Impaired Driving

Over the last decade, there has been a significant increase in the level of drug- and polysubstance-impaired driving. As communities work to safeguard their streets and highways from this behavior, systems must be in place to address the full spectrum of impaired drivers, including those driving under the influence of drugs other than or used in combination with alcohol.

Impaired Driving Solutions offers expert insight into this complicated issue and can help your community implement customized strategies to address it.

Our Story

Impaired Driving Solutions was founded in 2007 to reduce impaired driving nationwide through a coordinated effort to promote both accountability and public health. While implementing, training, and supporting DWI courts has always been at our core, we recognize that impaired driving is a multi-faceted problem requiring a range of justice interventions.

Impaired driving solutions and our team of diverse faculty have experience at every intercept of the system and are building actionable solutions aimed at saving lives.

Impaired Driving Solutions

Our Approach

Interventions at Every Intercept

Understanding Risk and Need

Our Priorities

Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment

Impaired Driving Treatment Courts

Treatment and Recovery

Drug-Impaired Driving

Our Story

Related Resources

Impaired Driving Prevention Month

DWI Court Foundational Training

DWI Court Operational Tune-Up

DWI Court Technical Assistance

Mentor/Academy Court Network

DWI Court Compliance Checklist

FAQ: Risk/Need Tools for DWI Courts

Introductory Handbook for DWI Court Program Evaluations

The 10 Guiding Principles for DWI Courts