“Docs, Cops, And Shops” Program To Curb Drinking And Driving

Friday, March 14, 2003
10:30 a.m.

Hampton House Lecture Hall
624 N. Broadway

On Friday, March 14, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Maryland law enforcement agencies and local alcohol retailers will hold a news conference to kick off an innovative campaign aimed at reducing drinking and driving among college students. The “Docs, Cops and Shops” campaign includes education and enforcement initiatives throughout the Baltimore metropolitan region. Educational materials will be distributed to young adults through 10 local colleges, as well as local bars, restaurants and liquor stores. Police in Baltimore City, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Cecil, Harford and Howard counties will be looking for drunk drivers through additional saturation patrols and sobriety check points. Police and shop owners will also increase their efforts to stop underage individuals attempting to purchase liquor. The campaign will begin March 14 and continue through early April, to coincide with the college spring break season.

The news conference will feature local health professionals, police officers, business owners, college students and victims of drunk driving. The kick-off event will also feature a driving simulator to demonstrate the effects of driving while intoxicated.

Studies published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol show nearly 1,400 college student ages 18 to 24 die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, which include motor vehicles crashes. Many of these injuries occur when students are involved in what is defined as “high risk” drinking: consuming five or more drinks in a row in one sitting. Several national surveys indicate that approximately two out of five college students—more than 40 percent—have engaged in “high risk” drinking.

The “Docs, Cops and Shops” campaign participants include the Central Maryland Regional Safe Communities Center and the Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; the Central Maryland Regional College Consortium; Law Enforcement and Community Traffic Safety Programs in Baltimore City, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Cecil, Harford, and Howard counties; the Maryland Highway Safety Office; Maryland Department of Transportation; State Highway Administration and State Farm Insurance.