It's national drunk driving night in the USA

According to Gawker, tonight (Thanksgiving Eve) is the night most Americans drink and drive. There's not much point in me saying "don't do it". Those of you without access to decent cab or public transit services will have to face the prospect of having to find, or be, a designated driver. Why would anyone want to do that?

1) You can still perform when you finally get a chance to hook up with that high school regret.
2) Tomorrow, you can be thankful that you don't have to stuff a turkey while blindingly hung over.
3) You will survive the night.
4) That old lady down the road who walks her dog in the dark will survive the night.
5) The loved ones you spend the next few days with will not be your new besties in jail.

Be safe.

A smarter way to stop drunk driving

Copyranter just featured this NZ anti drunk driving spot, and I'm reblogging it because I really love it:



Here are all the things it gets right:

• It accepts that teens like to get drunk
• It recognizes the social pressure not to take a stand
• It's funny and culturally relevant
• The language, characters and setting realistic

Here are things it didn't do:

• Guilt
• Preach
• Shock
• Tell youth not to drink

Through my work with the Traffic Injury Research Foundation I've come to understand that positive reinforcement is the only way to really get through to anyone. To completely denormalize drunk driving, you've got to normalize the culture of refusing to participate in it.

This isn't the first time New Zealand has taken a more progressive approach to encouraging responsibility. The "4 Mates" series, aimed at men, also showed that being a designated driver for your drunken friends sucks, but is sometimes necessary.



(There is something wrong with the vid, though. It shakes.)

F'd Ad Fridays: Don't get distracted by the headlights behind you

And by headlights,  I of course mean "headlights" in the parlance of our times.



This British (?) distracted driving PSA was a related video to the Farrah one from my last post. But whoever put it on YouTube cut off the branding and call-to-action. Does anyone know its origin? It certainly looks real, and of fairly recent vintage.

The poster claims it was "banned", but they all say that. It actually makes some pretty good points about both the passengers' and the divers' responsibilities when it comes to preventing distracted driving.

What not to do in the back of a boy's car. (Not while he's driving, anyway.)

Have a safe weekend.

Parents of young kids: How terrifying is this coffee ad?

Via adwomen.org

I get that this ad by Leo Burnett, Hong Kong, supposed to be funny. But if the bus driver is in such bad shape, I don't think another cup of coffee is the answer. As both a parent and a road safety social marketer, I hate being reminded of real life problems like this in a silly consumer ad.

Not your average road safety PSA

Although it starts out that way. Watch to the end.



Via Buzzfeed