Drinking and Driving, Part 1

The shocking statistics of the human and financial toll taken by drunk drivers are at last impinging on the public consciousness: at least 50 percent of all highway deaths involve alcohol use; drunk driving is the leading cause of death for young people aged 16 to 24; economic losses have been estimated at well over $20 billion; the odds are two to one that any one of us will be involved in an alcohol‐related accident at some time; more than 25 cents of every auto insurance dollar goes to pay for damage done by drunk drivers. The human misery involved is, of course, incalculable. Individual citizens, many because of devastating personal loss, have joined together in recent years with businesses, which are finally recognizing their financial interest and with government, which is responding to public pressure to address this problem. A great variety of material, most of it free, is available to libraries both for general information and for program planning. The items discussed below offer librarians an opportunity not only to enhance their information collections but to plan programs that will reinforce their role as information providers for the public and educational communities.