Drink drive campaign launched

Friday 06 December 2019

Guernsey's small, close-knit island community is the focus of a new campaign aiming to clamp-down on "unacceptable" levels of drink driving.

The theme of the campaign, ‘It’s a small island’, aims to get people thinking about the close-knit community they live in and how there’s no excuse for drink driving.

Due to be fully unveiled over the coming months, the Health Improvement Commission, along with Guernsey Police, worked with Specsavers Creative to redesign the anti-drink drive message.

On average 92 drivers are convicted each year in Guernsey. Drug and Alcohol Strategy Co-ordinator Andrea Nightingale said this figure had remained fairly consistent since 2010.

“We have often communicated the message that even in such a small island our efforts to get the anti- drink drive message across is not being heard by everyone,” she said. “We have targeted the summer and Christmas periods in the past, but we are looking to continue the message throughout the year as the shoulder months are equally concerning.”

Pictured: Roads Policing Inspector Tom Marshall said they had recently caught a motorist who was nearly five times the legal limit. 

“The concept of “being a small island” has been developed by Specsavers Creative and this is the core of their message. We are looking forward to launching our campaign with them and very much hope that the community engages with this concept to reduce the number of drink drivers and make our roads a safer place to be.”

Guernsey Police Roads Policing Inspector Tom Marshall said drink driving remained a “scourge” on island roads.

“The idiocy of getting behind the wheel after drinking beggars belief. Despite repeated campaigns and society largely rejecting it, we still find people who think it is acceptable. It is not. Only recently we had a driver nearly five-times the legal limit,’ he said.

“Drink driving puts the driver and everyone they pass in danger – it is simply unacceptable to behave that way. Our message remains simple: get a taxi, catch the bus, designate a driver or walk. Just don’t drink and drive.”

The Health Improvement Commission Chief Executive Officer Dr Simon Sebire said: "We are very grateful to Specsavers Creative for their support to develop the new anti-drink drive campaign. To be able to tap into the expertise of their Creative Team is a great opportunity and demonstrates the power of local collaborations between the third sector, private sector and the public sector."