College and high school students often hear about the dangers of drinking and driving from presentations offered by law enforcement officers. North Dakota’s debut of a new approach to learning about the dangers of drinking and driving occurred at a recent meeting of the Dickinson State University Rodeo Club. Cops & Docs, a program teaming a law enforcement officer with an emergency room physician, is being promoted in the six-state Rocky Mountain Region of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Forty-five rodeo club members and their coaches heard Lt. Dave Wallace from the Dickinson Police Department and Dr. Joel Blanchard from St. Joseph’s Hospital and Health Center’s Emergency Room speak about the procedures for answering an emergency call involving a serious-injury alcohol-related crash. That process begins only after someone discovers the crashed vehicle and calls 911 for emergency assistance.

It ends only after the seriously injured person recovers or dies from the injuries in the hospital. Lt. Wallace spoke about ambulance and rescue squad response times in rural areas and what happens to the injured driver or passenger on the scene. Dr. Blanchard spoke about common injuries resulting from alcohol-related crashes, from broken bones to debilitating spinal cord and brain injuries and the kinds of procedures the patient must undergo once he reaches the emergency room.

NHTSA’s Law Enforcement Liaison, Gary Coe, from Lakewood, CO, was on hand to provide support for the program. Coe stated, “People hear about DUI laws all the time from law enforcement officers. What I like about Cops & Docs is that it offers a real-world look at what happens from the time the first responders arrive on scene at a crash, all the way to the emergency room procedures. People often don’t get that viewpoint.”

NHTSA and traffic safety officials are promoting the new approach, hoping to bring a new perspective to the problem of alcohol-related crashes. Becky Byzewski, coordinator for the Southwest Coalition of Safe Communities coordinated the presentation and was on hand to hand out educational materials to the university students. Also on hand was Deb Nelson of DLN Consulting, Inc., the agency that holds the injury prevention contract for NHTSA’s Rocky Mountain Region. Cops & Docs presentations can be scheduled by calling 227-0131.