A Whole of Government approach to reducing drink drive re-offending. The success of the NSW Sober Driver Program.

The NSW Sober Driver Program (SDP) is a state-wide education and relapse prevention program
for repeat drink drive offenders who are convicted of two or more offences within five years.
Unlike other education programs for drink drivers, participants are required to complete the
program as part of their sentence. The SDP is the outcome of a comprehensive review of existing
road safety interventions and international best practice in traffic offender programs and was
developed by a NSW whole of Government committee made up of Roads and Traffic Authority,
Motor Accidents Authority, Department of Corrective Services and Attorney General?s
Department.

The Department of Corrective Services, Community Offender Service (DCS COS) delivers the program
through 51 district offices from 63 locations across NSW and at different times throughout the year.
Around 100 courses are offered every year and district offices may run simultaneous or multiple
courses in a year. The NSW Sober Driver Program commenced as a pilot in 2002 and was rolled out
statewide from June 2003. Up to the end of June 2007, 5,032 individual offenders have enrolled in a
SDP and 4,223 have completed the program.