Media Messages and Tools to Reduce Serious Single Vehicle Run-Off-the-Road Crashes Resulting from Impaired Driving
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Summary
This research report, commissioned by the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) and conducted by the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University, addresses the high incidence of single-vehicle run-off-the-road (SV-ROR) crashes in Idaho. Between 2008 and 2010, SV-ROR crashes accounted for 49% of traffic fatalities in the state. The study aimed to develop media messages and tools to reduce fatalities and serious injuries associated with these crashes, specifically focusing on impaired driving as a primary risk factor. The project utilized the Positive Community Norms (PCN) framework, a holistic prevention approach designed to cultivate cultural transformation through leadership, communication, and strategic resource integration. The methodology involved a multi-step process beginning with an analysis of ITD’s crash database and a review of 22 randomly selected police reports. This analysis identified alcohol impairment (42% of cases), speeding (8%), and driver fatigue (5%) as the most significant risk factors. The researchers also reviewed media-based interventions from other states but found no specific campaigns targeting SV-ROR crashes. To inform message development, the team conducted a telephone survey of Idaho adults between November 2011 and January 2012, administered by the University of Idaho’s Social Science Research Unit. The survey, grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior and social norms theory, assessed actual and perceived norms regarding bystander engagement in preventing impaired driving across four social relationships: family, friends, acquaintances, and strangers. Key findings revealed a significant gap between actual behavior and perceived norms. While 82% of Idaho adults reported not driving within two hours of drinking, 95% incorrectly believed that most adults do drink and drive. Furthermore, while 94% agreed that impaired driving is wrong, many lacked the knowledge or confidence to intervene, particularly with strangers. Statistical modeling indicated that interventions with strangers were the most statistically significant predictor of broader bystander engagement; increasing willingness to intervene with strangers was correlated with increased intervention with family and friends. The study concluded that media efforts should focus on correcting misperceptions about community norms and providing simple, safe strategies for bystanders to intervene with strangers, such as ensuring the driver stays, rides with someone else, or is reported to law enforcement. The significance of this research lies in its shift from targeting individual drivers to engaging the broader community as bystanders. The authors recommend a pilot implementation in three Idaho communities (Blackfoot, Lewiston, and Twin Falls) using a quasi-experimental design to evaluate the impact of media campaigns on bystander behavior and law enforcement calls. The proposed communication plan emphasizes community-based stories and messages that reinforce the norm that most Idahoans do not drink and drive and are willing to prevent others from doing so. This approach aims to transform driving culture by leveraging social pressure and collective responsibility to reduce impaired driving incidents.
Key finding
95 percent of Idaho adults incorrectly believed most peers drove after drinking, while only 44 percent recognized that most peers agreed intervening to prevent impaired driving was necessary.
Methodology
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Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (6 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | rosap | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-23 |
| archive | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| chunk | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| embed | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-02 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 19 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | partial | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified_with_issues.
Topics
Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.
- public messaging
- traffic safety culture
- dui enforcement
- seat belt use
- incidence prevalence
- passenger effects
Information type
What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).
- Applied Guidance: countermeasure evaluation
- Empirical Findings: observational prevalence, crash risk outcomes