A world-first road safety initiative urges teens to dob in their friends by text message, with the drink-drivers then getting a sobering phone call warning them not to drive. It encourages young drinkers to text message a friend's phone number to a short code, which in turn sends an offbeat pre-recorded sober driving voice message to the friend's phone warning of the dire consequences of a road crash.
The scheme aimed at young men who were out drinking and tempted to drive, Land Transport New Zealand spokesman Andy Knackstedt said. "We are doing what we need to to grab the attention of young men."
Alcohol Advisory Council acting chief executive Sandra Kirby welcomed any initiative that appealed to young people's sense of responsibility with alcohol.
The text message costs 20 cents - and the Transport Ministry says the average social cost from a serious crash injury is $535,000.
The messaging scheme has been run in rural and provincial areas including up to 200 pubs, and has proved popular, with around 7000 thousand messages sent already.
Vodafone and Telecom are providing up to 10,000 text messages free of charge. "We believe the messages will have helped to change attitudes towards drink-driving, and hopefully they have prevented drink-driving crashes," Mr Knackstedt said.
About a quarter of drivers aged 15-19 in fatal crashes last year were affected by alcohol and drivers aged 15-24 are nearly twice as likely to have alcohol as a contributing factor than other drivers.
The scheme, which has cost less than $100,000, began at Labour weekend and will end later this month. It will be evaluated in the new year.
Teens who dob in their drinking would-be driver mates can select one of four recordings, featuring a nurse, plastic surgeon, hotline worker, or home-helper. All highlight the impact of a road crash injury.
The plastic surgeon warns the receiver to protect their bottom in a crash because skin taken from this area of the body is useful in skin grafts.
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