Communications and Outreach Addressing Impaired Pedestrians

Communications and outreach to reduce impaired-pedestrian crashes can be directed at a wide variety of audiences, including law enforcement, drivers, alcohol servers and vendors, civic and neighborhood leaders, faith-based communities, universities, and friends and family of likely impaired pedestrians. Impaired pedestrians are also a target audience, of course. However, they are viewed as a difficult audience for communications and outreach to have a meaningful effect on their behavior because their decision-making is compromised. Some of the countermeasures proposed for impaired drivers discussed in the chapter on Alcohol-Impaired Driving, such as responsible beverage service training and alternative transportation, are also appropriate for impaired pedestrians.

The available evaluation data conclude that the countermeasure alone is not effective. Blomberg and Cleven (2000) evaluated a zone-based program in Baltimore that included public service announcements, posters, flyers, and interventions aimed at alcohol-impaired pedestrians and found a 22% decrease in crashes among males 30 to 59. However, this intervention was part of a comprehensive program that included engineering measures and law enforcement involvement.