The drink/drive rehabilitation scheme: evaluation and monitoring. Final Report

This report presents the findings of a two year TRL evaluation of the Department for Transport's (DfT) Drink/Drive Rehabilitation (DDR) scheme. The scheme, expanded nationally in January 2000, allowed courts throughout Great Britain to refer drink/drive offenders to one of a number of organisations providing DfT approved DDR courses. This evaluation has included several studies investigating the operation of the scheme in terms of (i) courts' use of the scheme as a referral measure, (ii) offenders' completion of a course when referred, and (iii) the effect of course attendance on subsequent reconviction rates. The results of this study have shown that the scheme is operating satisfactorily in terms of court referral and offender take-up rates and that DDR courses are an effective intervention for reducing subsequent drink/drive convictions. Surveys of those groups involved within the operation of the scheme have shown some variations to exist in individual courts and course providing organisations operation within the scheme. The findings of this study have been used to produce a number of good practice recommendations for course operation.