Drink driving offenders' willingness to change: Implications for rehabilitation

Drink driving rehabilitation programs are widely used as a means of reducing drink driving recidivism and have shown significant road safety benefits in addition to those obtained from licence suspension. however, the question remains as to how these programs impact on recidivism. Drink driving programs were initially designed to target offenders' alcohol problems as a means of breaking the drinking and driving cycle. Motivation or willingness to change plays an important role in changing alcohol consumption patterns, and examining offenders' willingness to change may assist in better understanding the processes involved in reducing recidivism. The current presentation examines the willingness of drink driving offenders to change their drinking behaviours and the implications these results have for the effectiveness of drink driving rehabilitation programs. Interviews conducted with 149 convicted drink drivers were used. The interviews covered socio-demographic characteristics, the AUDIT, the Readiness to Change Scale, frequency of drink driving and intentions to change drink driving behaviours. The study found that the offenders were consuming alcohol at a rate consistent with a high risk of alcohol problems and many offenders were unaware or denying the problem existed. Offenders were also less willing to change their drinking habits as opposed to their driving behaviours to avoid future drink driving episodes. the importance of these findings in designing effective interventions is discussed.