How to design and implement a drinking and driving programme pdf ...

Creating campaign messages
Drinking and Driving: a road safety manual
No campaign will be effective unless it identifies and develops the appropriate message
or messages. There is no easy formula for determining the correct message;
therefore working with skilled professionals is critical to campaign success.
Messages should target known behaviour (e.g. drinking after work and then driving),
focus on known risk groups (e.g. young men) and never suggest that drinking
and driving is acceptable under certain circumstances (e.g. during national holidays,
or at wedding celebrations) since this leads to confusion about what is and is
not acceptable.
One of the problems with addressing road safety issues is that the target audience
often does not see the benefits of changing their behaviour. People are naturally
resistant to change, and will often look for an excuse to dismiss the message. It is
therefore important not to provide individuals with such excuses, e.g. if people
see the message as being irrelevant to them (“it’s meant for older people, not my
age group”).
Figure 3.7 Billboard used as part of a drinking and driving campaign
in Namibia
3 | How to design and implement a drinking and driving programme
Market research is used to determine peoples’ knowledge of legislation as well as
the opinions, beliefs, fears and motivations of high-risk groups that are known
to be involved in drink-drive crashes. A first step in this process is to identify the
target groups involved and then collect information from them that is relevant for
the campaign.
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