The Roles of Bars and Restaurants in Preventing Alcohol-Impaired Driving

Abstract

Server intervention is a community-based approach to preventing alcohol-impaired driving. It refers to a set of strategies designed to alter the drinking environment so as to reduce the likelihood of a drinker becoming intoxicated or, failing that, to prevent him or her from driving while intoxicated. The research reported here evaluates the impact of a server intervention program on customer's consumption of alcoholic beverages using a quasi-experimental nonequivalent controlgroup design. The program entailed revision of establishment policies and job descriptions and an 18-hour trainingfor management and staff. Interviews with randomly selected customers for two months prior to and following program implementation provided data on customer characteristics and consumption. Multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses reveal that although absolute consumption and rate of consumption were unaffected by the program, the likelihood of a customer's being intoxicated was cut in half