Attitudes towards drink driving have changed massively since the first THINK! campaign adverts were launched.<\/p>\n
Over the last half century, attitudes had significantly changed towards drink driving, according to research undertaken to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the THINK! campaign.<\/p>\n
Of those surveyed, 91 per cent of motorists agreed that this practice was completely unacceptable and 92 per cent admitted they would feel ashamed of themselves if they were caught driving over the limit.<\/p>\n
In 1979, by comparison, 50 per cent of adult male and two-thirds of young male motorists confessed to drink driving at least once a week!<\/p>\n
The new study represents a massive change in attitudes towards this illegal practice compared to the reaction to the first THINK! campaign film in 1964, which was set in an office Christmas party. The advert informed drivers that “four single whiskeys and the risk of accident can be twice as great… If he’s been drinking, don’t let him drive.”<\/p>\n
Since then, road deaths due to motorists being over the limit of alcohol have fallen from 1,640 in 1967 to just 230 in 2012. However, the government believes that this figure should now be zero and there is still long way to go. The new advert reminds the public that one death due to drink driving is too many.<\/p>\n
Patrick McLoughlin, transport secretary, said that the change in attitude over the last 50 years is a real success story and finds it hard to imagine how groundbreaking the first campaign adverts were when they were launched.<\/p>\n
He continued: “Most of us understand drink driving wrecks lives but there is further to go. In 2012, 230 people were killed in drink driving accidents – 230 too many. This makes the THINK! campaign as relevant as ever.”<\/p>\n
According to the research, over 88 per cent of people claimed they would think less of someone who drinks and drives and almost half of respondents said that they would prefer to admit to their partner that they watch pornography on a regular basis than confess to being caught driving under the influence.<\/p>\n
Shaun Helman, head of transport psychology at the Transport Research Laboratory, added: “No-one working in road safety is complacent though; through a commitment to catching drink-drivers, and through harnessing peer pressure, we will continue to reinforce the message that drink driving is completely unacceptable.”<\/p>\n
Posted by Bob Fletcher<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Attitudes towards drink driving have changed massively since the first THINK! campaign adverts were launched. Over the last half century, attitudes had significantly changed towards drink driving, according to research undertaken to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the THINK! campaign. Of those surveyed, 91 per cent of motorists agreed that this practice was completely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring-issues"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n