Just seen this and what a powerfull video

should be on tv over here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2mf8DtWWd8

Indeed. And people call for the legalization and widespread acceptance of more drugs.

australian road safety adverts seem to be far better than the uk one:

Can't see youtube at work.

I recall being in australia around 15 years ago, and there were large anti-drink driving advertising hoardings all over the place:

"If you drink and drive, you're a bloody idiot".

Always to the point, those Aussies.

there was one in uk wasnt there for a while quite similar dunno if it ever got to tv tho

Wow, brutal stuff, very good!

Totally agree Trout. We pussyfoot around the issue here with 'clever' advertising, although recent ads have been getting better. That brings home the reality.

Wow, The Aussies certainly know how to get the message across.

forthright ads. It'd be good to have them shown here. Still too much tacit acceptance of drink driving here, imo.

they should show a selection of the photos we have to take at accidents to give to the doctors before we cut them out . that would probably make people think twice about doing it

we have those on buses in southampton

dblpst

I just watched the whole thing. 😯 😯 😯

thomthumb i took that out actually as i figured the families wouldnt want it but i guess they could be asked or just show the wreckage

we were at a crash a bit back and 3 died totally not their fault too. when the air ambulance turned up they were filming for sky some helicopter heros or something but after we cut out the first child they turned off the cameras

we asked afterwards why and they said it wasnt what the viewers would want to see as it wasnt a happy ending. madness ;-(

Truly sobering stuff – you need it to be as brutal as that to bring home the potential horror and devastation as otherwise human nature is to switch to the "It'll never happen to me" mode.

Wow. That sent shivers down my spine.
3 things scare me.. Cars, knives and guns. In that order.

i remember randomly reading some brisbane newspaper online and they charged someone for drinking driving. whilst riding a horse.

Jesus. We need those adverts. Now.

Indeed. And people call for the legalization and widespread acceptance of more drugs.

Interesting point coffeeking. Are also you suggesting that alcohol should be banned or have stricter control?

Blimey.
The only totally justifiable time the 'C' word could and should be used in public to describe someone who drinks and drives.
And why is drink driving still allowed? It should be utter zero alcohol. That'll stop these twunts who think the breathaliser is some kind of competition.

Wow. That sent shivers down my spine.
3 things scare me.. Cars, knives and guns. In that order.

I love cars and knives, and guns are fun too.

Interesting point coffeeking. Are also you suggesting that alcohol should be banned or have stricter control?

Not necessarily, I'm just concerned about the possible fallout.

It should be utter zero alcohol.

Almost impossible to do though, what if I drank 24 hours ago, there would still be a small amount in there? So you need a line to draw. Where to draw it? The current value is set at a point where your judgement has been proved to be unimpaired.

Quite a lot of those are 'anti-speeding' ads I think…how many of you would never drink and drive but routinely drive over the speed limit? (worth a thought, myself included)

I grew up with all those ads… they're brilliantly made and absoulutely confronting and they do make you think (at the time). But you know what, if I'm completely honest, I still did stupid things when I started driving, it just seems to be human nature… or maybe I was just a cock as a teenager/young 'man'?

Very hard hitting. Unfortunately not just drink drivers that we need to worry about, the number of people I still see using mobile phones and texting whilst driving is scary.

Totally agree that this kind of advertising should be used here and also should be shown before the 9pm watershed too, needs to be instilled in people from an early age. Also believe the law is too lenient, death following drink driving is imo murder as it was premeditated, you knew you were going to drink and drive, no different in my eyes to shooting or stabbing someone, you had a weapon with the intent to use it.

The current value is set at a point where your judgement has been proved to be unimpaired.

Are we talking blood alcohol and breathaliser values? Or the number of units that's acceptable to drink? Everyone processes alcohol differently, so while 1 unit might be fine for you, its not for me. I could drink a unit of alcohol very quickly and it would go straight to my head, then get in a car and technically I've done nothing wrong as I've adhered to the guidance. If you set it at zero, there cannot be any argument or discussion, although I appreciate your point about alcohol remaining in your system after 24hrs. But then, if you knew you'd be driving, you wouldn't drink. I'm sure any enforcement would be subject to some discretion too, much like speeding and drug use are at the moment.

Totally agree Trout. We pussyfoot around the issue here with 'clever' advertising, although recent ads have been getting better. That brings home the reality.

I didn't find the vid posted above as hard hitting as that UK ad where the guy sees the dead child everywhere he goes. Don't get me wrong, the Aussie one is difficult viewing, but I think we're a little desensitised to a lot of that kind of crash footage, it's the cold reality of the aftermath that I find most frightening.

😯

And people call for the legalization and widespread acceptance of more drugs.

legalise definitely, we have ample evidence that prohibition does not work 🙁 Acceptance is another matter.

Almost impossible to do though, what if I drank 24 hours ago, there would still be a small amount in there? So you need a line to draw. Where to draw it? The current value is set at a point where your judgement has been proved to be unimpaired.

I think the issue is that there's this culture of how much it is acceptable to drink before driving. "I'll just have one, I'm driving" does my head in – if it's much later on fair enough, but drinking a pint and getting straight into a car because you'll be under the limit – argh!

The tolerance in drink driving limit is there as a sort of grace, not a right.

Its amazing really and people forget that other people witness this stuff and maybe have to help eithe through their job or just by being in the right/wrong place right/wrong time. I was first on a head-on between a drunk driver and a family 4 years ago. I'll never forget it – having to make the decision on who got the attention – just me and another woman who was a nurse, i was a ski patroller and trained to some degree. 2 died including a 9yr old child. To this day it makes me cry and I will never forget it. Pointless, needless, selfish waste of life.

As an aside i was run off the road last Monday but a 19yr old girl who was off her face on pot. She took me round a LH bend as she was texting with her dog in her lap. I ran the cops who for some reason thought it was worth checking out – she was smacked, no licence and o/s court orders against her. She felt that I had been a bit unfair in ringing the police. No respect.

As an aside i was run off the road last Monday but a 19yr old girl who was off her face on pot. She took me round a LH bend as she was texting with her dog in her lap. I ran the cops who for some reason thought it was worth checking out – she was smacked, no licence and o/s court orders against her. She felt that I had been a bit unfair in ringing the police. No respect.

How did the police get her? I assume she overtook you and you rang the cops at the time, that means she could have been anywhere by the time they responded.

One hopes with all this rational thinking going on that noone here has ever driven whilst tired, or perhaps had an argument with their kids / OH whilst driving, never glanced at a map?

Good, thought not….

I thought the reason that these adverts aren't that common was that they're not necessarily that effective – they're shocking, but almost too shocking – no one ever sees themselves as the guilty party, because they don't think they're that bad (as in 'but I only have a couple, I'm not like those idiots'.

The alternative to the shock tactics is to slightly nudge behaviour in the right direction – like the australian example above, which is a tactic that could work for many issues.

Some shocking images there.

Regrettably, the UK is very soft on its approach to so many things like this.
Dr's are even hesitant about telling people they're clinically obese, so there's no hope in getting a slick, hard hitting advert like that past the sensors. YOu'd have all manner of complaints and it'd be pulled.

Worth it though as once it's pulled, people would actively search it out on line to see what all the fuss was about!

Interesting that in Oz it's aimed at the younger generation.

I'm 24 and none of my friends will have even one drink and drive, and it's been like that for years. In my experience, it tended to be people much older who had a few pints and then drove home.

I guess, but can't be bothered checking, that more fatal accidents are caused by sober people than drunk ones. What's being done about that?

You are far more likely to die if you walk home drunk than if you drive. So, if you're just worried for your own safety, probably best to chance the drive.

How did the police get her? I assume she overtook you and you rang the cops at the time, that means she could have been anywhere by the time they responded.

Ah right yeah sorry its a road round a peninsula, one way in one way out and she had stopped about a K up to sit on the beach with her dog, texting people having a spliff. I'd already rung *555 which is non-emergency number and when i found her I remonstrated that she almost killed me. During our friendly exchange the rather helpful police chaps arrived and had a yack with her before deciding that maybe she wasn't quite as lucid as you woudl expect a normal driver to be.

Dr's are even hesitant about telling people they're clinically obese

No doctor I know. My wife is in diabetes and spends half her week telling people this.

You are far more likely to die if you walk home drunk than if you drive.

how do you figure that dd? In my time I've been really very pissed indeed and somehow managed to stagger or crawl home. If I'd been stupid enough to get in a car in that state then I'd definitely have crashed it.

The only mitigation might be that if I was that pished then I'd be unlikely to crash at high speed.

how do you figure that dd?

Shameless rehashing of a quote I heard on 5Live or R4 a while back.

Hang on while I try and get a source…if I'm wrong, I'll happily retract…y'know me, never afraid to admit I'm wrong 😉

EDIT: Now I remember, it was from the guy who wrote Superfreakonomics…essentially a purely statistical examination, which I see has been roundly rubbished, though as much for the emotion of the statistic as for the stats themselves. Also, it was based on American figures.

Good article with the book excerpt here in the huffington post…Drat, can't do the kinky linky thing. Google Huffington superfreakonomics drink-driving. Should bring it up.

I sort of retract… 😉