660 A counselling program for juvenile offenders of road traffic law: profile, attitudes and safety practices

Background Road traffic crashes are a major cause of death and disability for people aged 15–29 years. Almost 80% of juvenile delinquency cases in Greece, concern violations of the Traffic Code. Juveniles in Greece never bear full criminal responsibility as adults do, and may be sanctioned with educational measures, which replace a more severe penalty. Purpose The current presentation reports on the profile of juvenile offenders, who were sanctioned with educational measures and attended the juvenile offender program delivered at monthly basis by a Greek university lab (Laboratoty of Health and Road Safety, LaHeRS). Methods A questionnair e was administered to 71 juvenile offenders from Heraklion, Greece, who attended the program in 2019. Results: The majority of the participants were male (76.1%), had an average age of 17.6 years and lived in rural areas (87.3%). The educational level of their parents was moderate to low with fathers presenting a lower educational level than mothers. The average age of first offense was 15.63 years, with 35.9% reporting the first offense at the age of 17 and 28.1% at the age of 14 years. 40.8% never used a helmet and 15.5% never used a seatbelt. Other common violations reported with high frequency were "running a red light" (33.8%), "using a mobile phone while driving" (32.4%) and "driving while under the influence of alcohol" (26.8%). Nearly 1/3 "though that they had enough experience to manage risky situations while on the street" (36.6%), "got annoyed when needed to drive behind a slow-moving vehicle" (36.6%), and "felt more aggressive when driving" (29.6%). Conclusions Community services offer unique opportunities for juvenile behavioural change interventions. Promoting juvenile justice and public health partnerships will increase access to youth preventive services and can advance safety for youth. Overestimation of driving ability, aggressive driving, mobile phone distraction and alcohol consumption need special attention in behavioural change programs and require an interdisciplinary approach.