Understanding the use of a community-based drive-home service after alcohol consumption among young adults

To know and understand the intention of young adults to use, during the Christmas and New Year's period, the community drive-home service after drinking alcohol, that is, to phone for oneself when they are the driver or when they are the passenger to suggest to a friend who is the driver to phone for the service. This study was conducted in the Province of Quebec, Canada, among a representative sample of 544 young adults aged 18 to 24 years. Self-administered questionnaires were completed by mail. Young adults showed a very good knowledge of the drive home service and had a very positive attitude toward its use. Among those who reported having experienced drinking too much alcohol during the Christmas and New Year's period, 17 percent had phoned when they were the driver and 36 percent had, when they were a passenger, suggested to a friend who was the driver to phone the community drive-home service. Nonetheless, more than half of them intended to use or to recommend its use to a friend in the future. Several factors identified in this study might be useful for increasing this drive-home service and therefore, contribute to lowering the risk of injury related to alcohol-impaired driving among young adults.