
They also sought to change norms related to impaired driving. They sought to raise awareness of impaired driving among students through the curriculum developed by Anastas. Members of the early SADD chapters had a number of goals. An anecdote related by Peggy Mann (1983) captures SADD's approach and philosophy: When a student jokingly suggested that SADD involve the governor, Anastas replied, "I believe that if you dream it, it can be done," and when the governor became the honorary chairman of SADD, its motto became "If You Dream It, It Can Be Done." Within a year, chapters had been formed throughout Massachusetts and the program was gaining national attention.
#Students against destructive decisions towson drivers
They initially called the organization Students Against Driving Drunk (SADD) in order to focus attention on the act of drunk driving, not on the drivers themselves. Students who took Anastas's course reacted enthusiastically and formed an organization to reduce alcohol-related traffic deaths among their peers. In this sense, the curriculum was a significant departure from traditional driver-education approaches.

Rather than a curriculum focusing solely on the effects of alcohol while driving, he taught strategies for preventing driving after drinking, and he emphasized the legal consequences of getting caught. Anastas decided to fight back and developed a fifteen-session high school course on driving while impaired. In 1981, Robert Anastas, a health educator and hockey coach in Wayland, Massachusetts, stood helplessly by as two of his students died of injuries sustained in two separate alcohol-related traffic crashes. STUDENTS AGAINST DESTRUCTIVE DECISIONS (SADD)
