Safety group launches festive season drink drive campaign

The hard-hitting campaign literature includes beer mats and posters that feature an ambulance, police vehicle, a taxi and a hearse.

Davy Jackson Chairman of the committee said “We have produced a beer mat with a very local theme. The photograph for the beer mat was taken in front of the clock tower at Ebrington Square.

“We hope people who see these mats in the local bars and clubs will recognise the local scene and this will encourage them to read the important message of Never Drink and Drive. With the number of deaths in Northern Ireland standing at 76 this year already, we would ask people, not to drive if they are drinking and not to drink if they are driving.”

He added: “We would like to thank our partners in assisting us with this project, the NI Ambulance Service, the PSNI and the Derry PCSP who provided financial support.”

Speaking at the launch on Friday, Alderman Drew Thompson, Chairman of the Policing and Community Safety Partnership said: “This campaign is delivered in partnership with our colleagues in the Ambulance Service, PSNI, Foyle & District Road Safety Committee and the Vintners. The PCSP is very supportive of this awareness campaign which gives a stark message of the potentially fatal consequences of Drink Driving.

“The campaign is timely given the increased number of people who will be enjoying the night time economy over the Christmas period. We hope that everyone has an enjoyable and safe festive season.”

Press Officer for the Road Safety Committee, Albert Smallwoods said the committee would be 50 in March 2016.

“Our beer mat campaign ‘Who is taking you home tonight’ on the reverse of the mats features the new 50 year logo in celebration of our Golden Jubilee. The front features a local scene, at Ebrington Square, so that when people go into bars and clubs in the city they will see the beer mats and they will recognise the scene, and hopefully, this will encourage them to look at the beer mats and take the message away with them.

“The campaign is local and is being kept to the Foyle area. It has been the same for the last three years,” Mr Smallwoods said.

“Fifty years ago the number of road deaths was 194 in Northern Ireland that year. People find that incredible, but it decreased very year until 1972 to 37, but rose until 2012, when there were 48 road deaths,” he said.

The 50th anniversary beer mats have now been distributed to city pubs and clubs.