Leaders in the capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, have rolled out a campaign aiming to reduce crashes caused by alcohol.
By Mimi Kirk (CityLab) |
Since 2013, Ethiopia has experienced a 63 percent increase in its number of road collisions. While a variety of factors caused these crashes, drunk driving played a significant role in the surge. In 2015, when the country’s capital, Addis Ababa, became one of 10 cities selected to be part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety, whose aim is to reduce road traffic injuries and fatalities, city leaders requested that the first order of business be a focus on the problem of drinking and driving.
Late last month, these leaders, in partnership with Bloomberg, launched a media campaign to work toward this goal. Two poignant public service announcements will air on Ethiopian television through the end of October.
One of the PSAs shows a man drinking while watching soccer at a bar with a friend. His cell phone rings, displaying a photo of his wife and young daughter. As he prepares to leave, the friend proposes to drive him home. The man refuses, saying, “Once I’ve had a drink, you know how well I drive.” We subsequently see him crash into the back of a truck, his lifeless body at the wheel as the phone rings beside him, the image of the wife and daughter again appearing. “Drinking and driving ruins lives,” a voice says. “Never drink and drive.”