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 Chr istmas and New Year's period, the community drive-home service after drinki ng 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 fo r 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 attit ude toward its use. Among those who reported having experienced drinking to o much alcohol during the Christmas and New Year's period, 17 percent had p honed when they were the driver and 36 percent had, when they were a passen ger, 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 rec ommend its use to a friend in the future. Several factors identified in thi s study might be useful for increasing this drive-home service and therefor e, contribute to lowering the risk of injury related to alcohol-impaired dr iving among young adults.