UGPTI Researcher Earns Award for Analysis of 24/7 Sobriety Program

Posted: Jul 29, 2025

Yun Zhou, a post-doctoral traffic safety associate with North Dakota State University’s Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI), was awarded the 2025 Data Visualization Award at the Association of Transportation Safety Information Professionals Traffic Records Forum held in Boston July 6–9.

The award recognizes Zhou and her colleagues, Andrew Kubas and Kimberly Vachal, for their evaluation of North Dakota’s 24/7 Sobriety Program as well as Zhou’s creative storytelling approach to presenting policy insights stemming from the data. To assess the program's long-term effectiveness, the research team analyzed more than a decade of participant histories across the state, their driving under the influence (DUI) violations, non-DUI violations, and crash data before and after their enrollment in the program. The 24/7 Sobriety Program is an intervention strategy mandating that alcohol-impaired driving offenders remain sober as a condition of bond or pre-trial release. The goal is to monitor the most at-risk offenders in North Dakota and require that these individuals remain sober in order to keep roadways safe from hazardous drivers.

Zhou used a cartoon-style narrative to trace a character's journey through arrest, court, program participation, and rehabilitation. While whimsical, the character represents the real journeys of many high-risk drivers in North Dakota who successfully continue to drive sober after completing the program. "We aimed to make data not only understandable, but memorable by combining evidence with empathy," Zhou said.

In 2008, North Dakota was an early adopter of the 24/7 Sobriety Program, which was founded in South Dakota. UGPTI has analyzed the effectiveness of the program for the North Dakota Department of Transportation for more than a decade to help program administrators make improvements.

"Our analysis of this program is an excellent opportunity for us to make continued contributions to the state’s Vision Zero initiative through improved impaired driving prevention strategies," said Kim Vachal, the UGPTI researcher who oversees the analysis and serves as director of UGPTI’s Rural Transportation Safety and Security Center.