Photo of the Month - February 2025

Shift into Safe News

Colorful graphic with CDOT logo, GCSAPP and black and white image of teenagers riding in a vintage car. On graphic copy reads, "If your friend is lit, don’t roll with it. 92.4% of local high school students do not drink and drive."

The Gunnison County Substance Abuse Prevention Project (GCSAPP) focuses on impaired driving, excessive drinking and community norms favorable toward substance use. In 2019, the CDOT Highway Safety Office reviewed and approved GCSAPP for NHTSA funding, and it continues to deliver successful projects and events in Gunnison County and the surrounding communities.

The GCSAPP Youth Coalition hosted nine events in FY24, with 950 community members attending. In FY25, six events have been hosted with 527 attendees. GCSAPP has been using the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (HKCS) to track the success of this initiative. In 2019, 10.4% of high school students drove a car after using alcohol in the past 30 days, and 11.6% after using cannabis. Those numbers decreased to 7.6% for alcohol and 8.5% for cannabis in 2023. Also in 2019, 88.8% of high school youth who binge drank in the last 30 days drove a car after drinking; in 2021, 36.7%; and in 2023, 24.7%.

Last year, the GCSAPP Youth Coalition created an impaired driving campaign (alcohol, cannabis and phone use while driving) that was shown prior to film screenings at a local movie theater. This initiative is one in a multipronged approach to decreasing substance use and impaired driving.

As a community, we have limited access to spaces for youth to engage in safe and substance-free activities in the evenings. By having access to safe spaces, we are working as a community to reduce impaired driving.