Transport budget cut will bring seasonal chill. Fleet Voice
Winter is bearing down on us and the poor souls in the Met Office will be hoping their predictions of the first heavy snows of the season are proved correct.
Whether they come when predicted or not, it doesn’t really matter to us as we have to keep on carrying on. However, just as the winter closes in around us and driving conditions deteriorate to their worst of the year, news filters in that spending on road safety is about to tumble like a contestant on Celebrity Come Skiing on Ice Factor.
Advertising works
This is all part of the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Business Plan 2011-2015. Business plan is could well be a grandiose term for spelling out the cuts the DfT deems necessary to save some cash over the coming years to help put Britain back on an even keel.
None of us will bicker about the need to set the UK back on a financially stable course, but one sentence in the DfT’s document pricked up our ears. It says: ‘The Department will no longer waste money on ineffective national advertising and marketing campaigns.’
This begs two immediate points. Firstly, why were they spending money on ineffective advertising and marketing campaigns before and why wasn’t it stopped much earlier? Seems like a bit of politicking going on here.
The second point is, if the DfT is not going to plan and roll out national advertising campaigns concerning driving and transport issues, who is? We’ve seen, or rather blatantly not seen, the FIA’s efforts to disseminate its message about ESP traction and stability control becoming standard on all new cars Europe-wide by 2014. Hands up anyone who’s seen this bright spark of advertising brilliance. Anyone? Nope, didn’t think so.
Yet, if there’s one piece of DfT advertising that is a must every year, it’s the annual Christmas ‘Don’t drink and drive’ message. This is as much a part of the festive season as turkey, the Queen’s speech and taking socks back to Marks & Spencer’s on Boxing Day.
Delivering the Drink-Drive message
It could be argued there’s no need for an annual advertising campaign to ram home the message about the dangers of drinking and driving. Yet every year, plenty of idiots think it’s acceptable to get behind the wheel after a few sherries and take to the roads. If this ad campaign prevents just one such incident and any injuries or deaths, then it has been worthwhile.
The Christmas drink-drive campaign also has lasting effects. As a child of the 1970s, I have been brought up with the common sense attitude that drinking and driving simply don’t mix. However, there’s a fat tranche of drivers both older and younger who think it’s okay to slip behind the wheel a little the worse for wear. It’s not.
While the Christmas anti-drink and drive advert may not have worked on that hardcore of older drivers who think they can control a car when under the influence, there is still hope for educating younger drivers. This is exactly why the DfT should not abandon its commitments to promoting better driving.
The Institute of Advanced Motorists’ Chief Executive Officer Simon Best commented about 17-25-year old drivers by saying: ‘They have proportionally more crashes and suffer more death and injury on our roads than any other group. Despite this, very little is being done to ensure that young people improve their driving.’
Best goes on to advocate the need for post-test training for younger drivers, something this column supports wholeheartedly. This demonstrates that young drivers need all the help they can get to survive and thrive to become safer, older and wiser drivers. Putting an end to the festive no drink and drive campaign would simply be to let this group down.
Seasonal blitz
Of course, the DfT may point out that drink-driving is more of a worry in the summer months when many of us take a wee trip to a sunny country pub with friends. Statistically, more people do drink and drive in the summer, so the DfT should also be directing resources into highlighting and tackling this issue. It did just this some years ago and there were encouraging signs that the campaign was making headway, but the following year there was no continuation.
The DfT will also point out that police resources are stretched even more in the winter due to poor road conditions. However, many drivers need constant reminding of their responsibility to other roads users, their passengers, their families tucked up warm and safe at home and to themselves to leave the keys behind if they plan on having a few drinks.
Our worry is that if the DfT abandons the anti-drink and drive Christmas blitz, more drivers will think they can get away with. Unfortunately, these anti-social drivers have a very good chance of getting away with it as road traffic police numbers have shrunk every year.
Combine the cuts in numbers of police monitoring our roads with the lack of a prominent message about the dangers of drink-driving and you can guarantee the number of drink-related accidents will increase after a long period of shrinking statistics.
It’s a bleak mid-winter thought and one we sincerely hope the DfT understands as it seeks to reduce its budget spend over the coming years. There definitely are areas where spending needs to be reined in and money has been wasted – don’t let’s get started on the pointlessness of many so-called safety cameras. However, there are some places where the DfT has to spend money and promoting safe driving through abstinence at Christmas time is one of them as this is a gift that just keeps on giving all year round.
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