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We were proud to join Dr. Howard Shaffer and Dr. Sarah Nelson on Tuesday to share their research on CARS (Computerized Assessment Referral System) with U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives and Federal Agency personnel in Washington DC. Their research is going to change how we deal with DUI repeat offenders, and we’re very happy that we were able to support their research.

The CARS program grew out of the insight that there may be additional variables influencing why hardcore DUI offenders to persist in offending. The consequences of their first DUI did not dissuade these individuals from offending again. Realizing that addiction and mental health disorders might be the missing part of the puzzle, Drs. Shaffer and Nelson set out to develop a user-friendly and comprehensive tool to help diagnose and subsequently help facilitate a customized treatment plan for these underlying conditions.

CARS is a powerful assessment tool with a user-friendly interface that will more effectively screen for mental health disorders, alcohol dependence and drug dependence for DUI offenders. Based on the internationally-recognized CIDI (Comprehensive International Diagnostic Interview) system CARS is a cost-effective tool designed to aid those working in the courts, probation, and treatment programs to screen their populations for mental health disorders in addition to alcohol-related issues.

Over the next three years, the CARS tool will be fully developed, tested and evaluated. We’re looking forward to seeing the results.

Century Council Blog

Today, the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) announced the release of a new publication entitled, “The Implementation of Alcohol Interlocks for Offenders: A Roadmap“.

Alcohol ignition interlocks are a proven tool to effectively monitor impaired driving offenders and reduce recidivism. Today, almost all U.S. jurisdictions have implemented an alcohol interlock law targeting repeat and even high-BAC offenders. More recently, at least 12 jurisdictions have moved to also include some or all first offenders in alcohol interlock legislation and several others are considering such laws.    

The Roadmap was designed to help administrators and staff plan, develop and implement improvements to alcohol interlock strategies to ensure that the goals and objectives of legislation are achieved. It contains practical steps to guide the implementation of alcohol interlock devices as part of a strategy targeting either repeat, high blood alcohol concentration (BAC) or first offenders. Critical steps in the process ranging from the drafting of legislation and the development of an implementation, to the organization of staff education and public awareness through to the creation of an evaluation plan for the strategy are discussed. Important considerations and caveats that impact decision-making at each stage of the process are also highlighted.

The Roadmap was created with input from seasoned professionals who have played a leadership role in these initiatives or who have been intimately involved in interlock delivery. Input was sought from representatives of driver licensing, criminal justice, and hybrid (licensing and justice combined) interlock initiatives to achieve a balanced and inclusive perspective on effective strategies to apply these tools to supervise drunk drivers.

Funding for this initiative was provided by The Century Council.    

Download now:

• The Implementation of Alcohol Interlocks for Offenders: A Roadmap
• Executive Summary – The Implementation of Alcohol Interlocks for Offenders: A Roadmap

Learn more about the project.

Century Council Blog