Evaluation of the redesigned "Booze It & Lose It" campaign in North Carolina

In 2023, the North Carolina Governor's Highway Safety Program and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety joined with local law enforcement and other partners to update the "Booze It & Lose It" campaign through a pilot project in western North Carolina. This article evaluates the effects of the revised Booze It & Lose It campaign on driver awareness and behavior and the numbers of serious roadway crashes.

Drivers were surveyed in both the pilot test communities and comparison communities in North Carolina to assess campaign awareness, beliefs, and self-reported behaviors. Police-reported crashes for 2015-2024 were used to examine the impact of the program on the rates of overall crashes, single-vehicle nighttime crashes, single-vehicle late-night crashes, and serious and fatal injury crashes using time-series regressions. Crash data were adjusted for seasonality and the possible effects of COVID-19.

The percentage of drivers in the pilot counties who were very or somewhat familiar with Booze It & Lose It increased from 66% before the campaign to 68% after 1 year and 81% after 2 years, while the percentage in the comparison counties fluctuated from 76% to 72% after 1 year and 82% after 2 years. The estimated difference in trends across county groups is not significantly different (p = .0653). The pilot program was associated with a relative 4.3% increase in all crashes, a 1.1% decrease in single-vehicle nighttime crashes, a 6.9% decrease in single-vehicle late night crashes, and a 14.4% decrease in serious and fatal injury crashes, but none of these estimates are statistically significant.

Driving while impaired by alcohol remains an issue in North Carolina. If the revised Booze It & Lose It pilot program changed driver behavior and subsequent alcohol-related crash rates during these 2 years, the change was too small to confidently detect. There are, however, some encouraging signs. Awareness of the Booze It & Lose It program has rebounded to a level not seen since 2012. And crash types typically associated with alcohol are down. Maybe most importantly, the pilot program is continuing under local control.