The Road Safety Authority has launched a hard-hitting new advertisement showing blood literally on the hands of drink drivers and their friends who fail to intervene, marking a return to the shocking imagery that characterized Irish road safety campaigns in the early 2000s.
The graphic campaign centers on a man entering a pub and placing his car keys on the table before ordering drinks with friends. When asked if he’ll have a pint, he casually responds: “Sure, I can always take the quiet road home.”
As the scene unfolds, the hands of everyone in the group gradually become covered in increasing amounts of blood, culminating with the man leaving bloody footprints as he walks to his car and drives away. The advertisement concludes with the stark message: “Drink driving kills. Don’t let your friends drink and drive.”
The campaign represents a significant shift back to shock tactics for the RSA, which had moved away from such graphic imagery in recent years in favor of less confrontational messaging approaches.
The timing of the campaign coincides with concerning statistics about impaired driving in Ireland. The latest international E-Survey of Road Users’ Attitudes found that 9 percent of Irish drivers admitted to driving within one hour of taking drugs at least once in the previous 30 days, higher than the EU average of 7 percent.
While Ireland’s drink-driving reports are below the European average at 10 percent compared to 15 percent, alcohol remains a significant factor in road traffic fatalities. RSA analysis of coronial data from driver fatalities between 2016 and 2020 revealed that 35 percent of drivers with available toxicology results tested positive for alcohol.
The statistics become even more alarming for late-night incidents, with 70 percent of driver fatalities occurring between 10pm and 6am involving alcohol-positive drivers.
The new advertisement premiered at the RSA’s Annual International Road Safety Conference, where Minister of State for Transport Seán Canney praised the campaign for challenging social responsibility around drink driving.
“Whether at the pub, at a party, or any social gathering … say no to drink driving and call it out,” Canney stated, emphasizing that the campaign “challenges us all to take responsibility.”
The campaign launches against a backdrop of mixed progress on road safety. While 2024 saw a 4 percent decrease in road deaths compared to the previous year, the overall trend shows a gradual increase in fatalities over the past decade, highlighting the ongoing challenges facing road safety authorities.
The RSA has set an ambitious target of eliminating road deaths completely by 2050, making campaigns like this crucial to changing public attitudes and behaviors around impaired driving.
The return to shock advertising reflects growing frustration among road safety advocates about persistent dangerous driving behaviors despite years of education and enforcement efforts. The graphic imagery aims to make viewers confront the real consequences of drink driving decisions, both for those who drive impaired and those who enable such behavior through inaction.
The campaign’s focus on bystander responsibility represents a strategic shift, recognizing that preventing drink driving often requires intervention from friends and family members who witness someone making dangerous choices.