The Road Safety Officer in Mayo County Council has launched an October bank holiday weekend road safety campaign with a hard-hitting commercial designed to make motorists think about their driving behaviour.
The new anti-drink drive campaign, which warns that driving while over the limit can have serious repercussions on your own life as well putting the lives of others at risk, comes after new data reveals that drink driving is responsible for one third of all fatal collisions. The problems of mixing alcohol and driving are not just confined to Christmas. This is an all-year-round issue. “This new production will take the message direct to the next generation of drivers. The sexy nature of the film followed by the unexpected twist ensures that friends will pass this film to friends via their phones. We are appealing to these young people to stress to their peers also the dangers of drink driving,” explained Mr Noel Gibbons.
Starting with what appears to be a tantalising, steamy encounter between a young couple in a parked car, the 100-second viral film ends up showing a fatal car crash with the young woman in pain as she gasps her final breaths. Her lover has killed her.
“This film hits you right between the eyes and will make people think twice about what they drink when they are driving. We needed a medium for our message that young drivers wanted to engage with, which they distribute among friends and subsequently helps change attitudes. So this film will be displayed on large plasma screens at the Castlebar GMIT college starting yesterday, October 23, and it will also be sent to students’ mobile phones via blue tooth,” Mr Gibbons explained. “Drink driving is still a very real problem that is needlessly putting lives at risk on our roads. Attitudes have changed in recent decades and the number of road deaths due to alcohol have been cut thanks to previous successful campaigns, but we need to reach all motorists that there is no place for drink driving on our roads.”
The hard-hitting commercial can be viewed on www.mayococo.ie/sc/bluetoothroadsafety mov or www.safe2travel.co.uk/bluetooth
