During term 2 in Health, my cohort and I, were tasked with making an assessment about road safety. This assessment was called ‘Keys for Life’ and the main task was to make an advertisement about road safety targeting mainly young drivers. The topic of the advertisement were meant to be chosen out of 1 of the 4 main road issues (speed, alcohol, fatigue, distracted driving). The campaign is meant to provide others with current information about the issue and have a clear and relevant message about the issue. It must also contain strategies for drivers to keep themselves safe and provide a way the advertisement will reach young drivers.
The campaign topic I chose was Alcohol. I decided to choose alcohol as it has the largest volume of driving accidents and it can be the most dangerous safety issue. In Western Australia, If you are caught driving with a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) equal to or above 0.05 and less than 0.08, you can pay an infringement to avoid being prosecuted in court. With Australian laws making drivers caught under the influence of alcohol pay fines of amounts from $1000 up to $7500+ and also demerit points and jail time spent. But for L and P platers, any amount of alcohol found in the body can result up to huge fines, ban of license and in some cases, loss of license to drive.
My aim of my campaign is to stop drink driving on roads, especially for younger drivers. My motto states as ‘Less drinking, More thinking’ in where people are told to stop drinking and have a think about their actions. My goal is for my campaign to persuade people to stop drink driving illegally and tell others not to as well.
Reflection Questions:
What were the biggest things you learnt while completing this task?
The dangers and the horror of drink driving. Before completing the task, I never knew the amount of people actually being involved with drink driving. In WA alone, 42 people died to drink driving accidents last year!! In such small population of WA, many peoples lives can be taken from just some alcohol. As an example, a foolish younger driver could drink just one more extra bottle of beer and they caused 2 deaths on the road. Alcohol accidents are more common then I thought as, 1 in 5 drivers who have lost their lives on the road were under the influence of alcohol. This means such a high percentage of accidents are caused by a driver under the influence, this doesn’t account for harmless drivers under no influence which have been involved with the accident.
What one piece of advice would you pass on to young drivers above all else? Why?
The one main piece of advice I will give to young drivers is just not to drink any alcohol before driving. The causer of most drink driving accidents are people driving drunk on the roads. If you as a young driver just didn’t drink before going on the road, a major variable would be removed. A personal note to yourself to not drink and be responsible is all you need. With some initiative and integrity, any young driver can force herself/himself to not drink any alcohol and enjoy other things before driving. Another major strategy is just to go on public transport, taxi, uber or get somebody not under the influence to drive you around.
Write down a pledge that you will commit to when you start driving. Why did you pick these things to commit to? How will you stick to these commitments?
That I will never drink drive on my plates and stay under the alcohol limit when I get on my full license. This pledge removes any financial problem and law problem I may get into. This is because, if I follow this simple pledge, I won’t get any fines, demerit points or jail time as I have stayed with the law and I was a responsible driver. This also decreases my driving accident rate by a large amount. By just obeying the law, I can stay safe as a driver on the road. I can use my strategies I previously mentioned to help stick to these commitments. The strategies of carpooling and obeying the law can easily help me stick to these commitments. Also being responsible for my own wellbeing, will help me stick to this commitments.
Summary:
I hope everyone reading this article understands the danger and the seriousness of drink driving, especially in young drivers. I hope the poster and my campaign changed your viewings of the topic and I ask for you to share my campaign to spread the word of the dangers of Drink Driving.