Drinking and driving is a really bad idea. Obviously, we aren’t breaking any new ground with that statement. Nobody really thinks it’s a good idea to get behind the wheel of a car after a few drinks. But they still f*cking do it, at alarming rates. We get the excuses and rationalizations, but we also believe they are all 1) dumb 2) not worth the risk.
Point being: Drunk driving is no joke. What is the best way to stop it from happening? How about using coasters? Yes, those things that you rest your beer on and then never think about again unless you collect them like a nerd.
In an effort to highlight the impact of drinking and driving, Canada’s ArriveAlive.org partnered with ReThink Canada to spread the word on the negative impacts of drunk driving. They did this by making coasters out of pieces of cars that were involved in accidents with impaired drivers.
https://twitter.com/DriveSober/status/843130171318321152/photo/1
If you visit a bar called The Emmet Ray in the Toronto-area, you might find a jarring message when you lift up your beer to take a swig. “This coaster used to be a car. That car never made it home,” read the coasters made from car pieces. They were created by high-impact hydraulic presses at an auto-body shop in Vancouver. The hope is that they’ll create a conversation about the risks of driving while impaired.
“People saw them and started having a conversation about how they got their license, how they behave behind the wheel,” Arrive Alive program director Michael Stewart told Global News.
“Impaired driving remains one of the leading criminal causes of death in Canada,” Michael Stewart, program director at Arrive Alive said in a post on the organization’s website. The coasters were distributed right before St. Patrick’s Day. “We wanted to remind people, on the biggest drinking night of the year, that there are consequences to driving drunk—and remind them to use a designated driver, take transit or download The Ride App for a safe ride home.”
This seems like a really good idea. Hopefully it catches on in the United States as well. If just one person reads a message like this on a coaster and decides to order an Uber then it’ll be a win.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BR6ORjCDtiC/?tagged=arrivealive
