Ranking about 30th on the global list of alcohol consumption, we’re not a nation to pass up on a party - any day of the week. So it’s any excuse for a drink, starting at Messed-up Monday, Tipsy Tuesday, Wasted/Wine Wednesday and Thirsty or Phuza Thursday, all the way through to Filthy Friday, Sloshed Saturday and Sunday Funday.
The problem, though, lies not only in our heavy drinking culture: it’s about the consequences.
At the beginning of this year, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters announced road fatalities had increased by 14 percent with a total of 1755 deaths from December 1, 2015 to January 11, 2016 - many of which were alcohol-related.
And that’s not counting disabilities and other related costs. The WHO’s Global Status Report for 2015 ranked South Africa at 23rd out of 50 African countries for the highest number of road deaths.
That report notes that 7.8 percent of the country’s GDP is lost due to road crashes. Yet the latest third-quarter GDP figures, which put our growth at a worrying 0.2 percent, said alcohol and tobacco use had “positively increased” by 4.4 percent.
And that increased alcohol use is sadly associated, too, with the mayhem on our roads.
Australia’s road safety campaigns, which employed shock tactics for decades, have been applauded worldwide. There, drivers don’t dare exceed the speed limit.
I recall driver’s education classes at school, during which Australian videos were shown of the serious consequences of drinking and driving.
Those videos didn’t necessarily lead to behaviour change as the message wasn’t consistently drummed home, but they certainly left an impression.
Drunk drivers are not the only ones to be concerned about, though: distracted drivers can be equally dangerous.
The recent YouTube series Summer Break, partnered with AT&T’s It Can Wait video, highlighted device use while driving.
In it, actors speak candidly about chatting on their phones, messaging, Snapchatting and Facebooking while driving.
Then a real crash victim enters the room to speak to the actors about how she became disabled and lost her parents to a distracted driver, confronting them about the very real consequences of their behaviour and the importance of delaying social media gratification. Because it can wait.
A&T research shows nearly four in 10 smartphone users tap into social media while driving. Almost three in 10 surf the internet. Seven in every 10 people engage in smartphone activities while driving. SMSing and e-mailing are the most prevalent.
“But other smartphone activity use behind the wheel is now common. Among social platforms, Facebook tops the list, with more than a quarter of those polled using the app while driving.
“About one in seven said they’re on Twitter behind the wheel,” the company says on its website.
In South Africa, people are far too cavalier about getting behind the wheel after a couple of toots. If we’re honest, many of us have driven when we shouldn’t have. And many of us know someone directly affected by people who shouldn’t have been driving in the first place.
This past Saturday night, a driver - in all probability passed out behind the wheel - smashed into a friend’s boundary wall and wedged himself in-between the wall and a tree. He hurt himself but, thankfully, no one else.
Later that evening, another driver hit a kerb on my street and parked his damaged car on a neighbour’s pavement. When we checked on his condition, he sucked back the last of his beer and staggered off into the night, leaving his car behind until the following evening to be towed.
No doubt to avoid arrest.
Inspired by the #ItCanWait campaign, Diageo has launched its 2017 Drive Dry campaign to encourage responsible alcohol consumption.
A global leader in alcohol brands, including Johnnie Walker, J&B, Lagavulin, Cîroc, Tanqueray and Guinness, Diageo’s products are sold in more than 180 countries, but it doesn’t want to be associated with irresponsible usage: the message is, have fun, but do so sensibly.
The campaign aims to shock South Africans into thinking twice about getting behind the wheel drunk. It’s not as gratuitously violent though, as some of the Aussie adverts, which might make it more effective at jolting the conscience.
Launched last week in Hyde Park, the campaign highlights the reality of drunk driving by telling the stories of South Africans who experienced loss, injury and trauma due to driving under the influence, whether it was caused by them or others.
“Our overall goal is to impact and change people’s lives by using real stories to give the campaign resonance.
“We have also approached celebrity ambassadors who are passionate about driving dry to spread the message far and wide,” Diageo SA’s legal and corporate security director Viwe Soga told guests.
South Africans Against Drunk Driving, a non-profit organisation, has called for an increase in random alcohol testing, the establishment of specialised drink-driving courts that expedite trials and drug and alcohol testing for every driver at every crash scene.
“Our mission is to stop drunk-driving, protect families from the trauma of losing loved ones and in doing so, to make a tangible difference to South Africans’ lives,” said Caro Smit, founder of SADD and guest speaker at the event.
* You can join the conversation, watch the video clips, and share the Drive Dry message on Facebook and Twitter, using t#ThisIsMyStory.
** Georgina Crouth is a consumer watchdog with serious bite. Write to her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @Consumerstar