Columbus, Ohio, United States

Screening and Brief Intervention is an evidence-based practice use to identify, reduce, and prevent the harmful use of, and dependence on, alcohol and illicit drugs. E-SBIs are SBI interventions that are delivered electronically.

Partner: Ohio State University

Project status
The Steering Committee will be involved in outreach for electronic screening and brief intervention (e-SBI) at Ohio State University and will fund e-SBI implementation and outreach at other colleges throughout the Columbus metropolitan area. It’s estimated that e-SBI reduces alcohol consumption among all participants by 16.2%, with a more modest 13.8% reduction among “excessive” drinkers. If e-SBI is not mandated across the targeted universities, it’s estimated that participation will match the 20% rate at Ohio State University, which means that roughly 12,800 students will be exposed to the intervention. The reduction in consumption and, presumably in YHLs lost, would be 0.25 percent. The Steering Committee is trying to negotiate for mandatory e-SBI for incoming freshmen which could roughly double the number of exposed students going forward, yielding a 0.5% reduction in YHLs lost once the freshmen mandate has been in place for one to two entering classes.

This custom truck can be deployed to respond any suspected DUI in the city and testing can be done on the scene. Currently, suspected DUIs need transported to the downtown police station for processing, removing officers from the street for several hours. The truck will have a breathalyzer on board and specially trained personnel providing the city with a streamlined ability to charge for DUI and to release officers to continue patrolling.

Partner: Columbus Police Department

Project status
The Steering Committee funded a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) truck and two additional officers on weekend evenings, increasing the patrol hours devoted to impaired driving enforcement substantially more than the direct funding of officers. If accompanied by media coverage, these expenditures might reduce impaired driving by 2%, leading to a 0.24% reduction in alcohol-related harm.

Partner: Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Project status
Strengthening Ohio’s ignition interlock law has been the number one Ohio legislative priority of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and also the main impaired driving priority for Ohio. The Steering Committee worked with MADD to explore strengthening the law. It was discovered that with Ohio’s home rule provisions in its Constitution, judges would be free to ignore interlocks. This resulted in a strategic shift that focused on education and media campaigns to increase sentencing that requires interlock installation instead. The goal was to increase interlock sentencing from 6% to 25% of all “Operating a Vehicle while Impaired” (OVI) convictions statewide by 2021. It’s estimated that increased sentencing would reduce alcohol-related harm in Columbus by 0.18 percent.

Currently, the interlock efforts are slated to extend statewide. The Steering Committee will count the statewide impact toward the City Pilot’s 10% goal. Using crash statistics, the projected gain in Ohio would be a 6.1% gain compared to Columbus alone.

In 2017, the Columbus City Pilot launched a Safe Ride campaign that was accompanied by media and enforcement efforts. Safes Rides was composed of three elements: increased enforcement, Lyft coupons, and a media campaign. Law enforcement increased patrols during high risk times and up to 2000 Lyft ride tickets were distributed over 17 weekends.

Partner: Columbus Police Department

Project status
The media campaign reached over 1 million people and a rider survey indicated that 62% were less likely to drive after drinking. An evaluation showed that harm from drinking was reduced by 0.3% but alcohol consumption rose by an average of 0.8 drinks per ride. The net reduction in the harmful use of alcohol was 0.02% during 2017, with no reduction carrying over to 2018. Given those findings, the Steering Committee decided to discontinue this effort.