Less Death, Less Tragedy: Reducing Drink Driving in Ethiopia

“It changed the culture,” said Tsion Kiros of Vital Strategies. “They really hated the ads. The ads really affected them.”

Statistics reflected this. According to data gathered by Johns Hopkins University, alcohol levels among drivers stopped at checkpoints dropped during and after the campaign. In 2015, 9.7% of drivers tested had blood levels above the legal alcohol limit. That number dropped to 4.5% by early 2016, rose a bit to 5.9% a few months later, and had dropped to 1% in the most recent round of checkpoint testing in early 2019.

Bent on enhancing communication, Vital Strategies worked with Addis Ababa Transport Management Agency and other stakeholders to illustrate the devastating consequences of drinking and driving not only for the driver but also for road crash victims and their families. A further goal was to let the public know that drinking and driving carries legal repercussions, even if no one gets hurt.

“Drink driving ruins lives. Never drink and drive,” was the main message, disseminated through a comprehensive campaign that included television, radio, billboards and posters. The campaigns were timed to catch people just as holiday seasons were getting under way, when risky behavior tends to rise. The Testimonial and Celebrate phases ran in fall and early winter, then were repeated the following spring. The spring campaign added more police presence on the streets, with breathalyzer checkpoints.

The campaign materials showed first the potential effect on the drinker via a bar scene ending in a car crash, then the potential ripple effect in the community via a woman who has lost her only child to a driver who had been drinking. She sifts through photos of her lost daughter, speaking of her accomplishments and how she was to have graduated from university that year. The third campaign was designed to both introduce drivers to breathalyzers —newly deployed by police—and show the public what law enforcement can do if a driver’s alcohol level tops the legal limit.

The campaign was created based on the responses of local audiences. Before launch, the messages were tested on local drivers, and their responses suggested that a hard-hitting approach that engaged them at the emotional level would have the most impact. People found the ads so disturbing — especially the one with the mother mourning her daughter — that they asked television stations to stop airing it.

The messages sunk in. Before the campaign, some people tended to believe they drove better when they drank.

“During the campaign people started saying, maybe I shouldn’t be drinking and driving,” said Kiros. “That became a big discussion point in bars and clubs.”

In addition, a Johns Hopkins University study conducted just after the campaigns recorded a drop in drivers testing above the legal alcohol limit during this period.

Data from a study by Addis Ababa research agency SART Consult bore out the anecdotal evidence. The consulting firm surveyed two sets of 721 drivers throughout Ethiopia’s capital, the test group before the campaign and a separate group afterward. The majority of participants said the videos had stayed with them, with 88% recalling the Testimonial ad, 81% the Celebrate ad and 74% the Enforcement when prompted.

Overall, 95% of participants remembered at least one of the videos clearly, and said it was easily understandable. This percentage, extrapolated to the city’s 2 million residents over age 15, means that the campaign reached a potential 1.9 million adults in Addis Ababa, SART found. The television ad was the one most commonly remembered, with radio second.

Respondents said it added to their perception of drinking and driving and increased their concern (85% said so) over the issue. Most of them said the campaign made them stop and think, helped them understand the consequences on their lives and the lives of others, and inspired them to support sober driving.

Tying the campaign to increased police enforcement of drinking and driving led 80% of respondents to notice there were more police checks on drivers.

Beyond awareness, people were affected enough to change their behavior.

• Two-thirds, or 64%, of those who responded said that they had stopped drinking and driving as a result of the Testimonial campaign
• 51% said they also tried to convince others not to drink and drive.
• 68% of the respondents went on to discuss the issue with their friends, family and colleagues, expanding the reach of the campaign further still.

Of those who saw just the Celebrate phase:

• 65% said it made them stop drinking and driving
• 49% tried to convince others not to
• 60% discussed the issue with people in their orbit

Even now, years after the ads ran, a lot of people are still using ride services after drinking and have internalized the messages, Kiros said.

“It’s becoming the culture,” Kiros said. “My friends now would not drive if they were drinking. They would call a ride service.”

Note:
In line with the World Health Organization and other organizations involved in road safety work, Vital Strategies does not use the word accident to refer to a traffic collision or crash, as it suggests no one was responsible and that it wasn’t preventable.

We also do not use the term drunk driving, because people don’t have to be technically or visibly drunk to be impaired. The terms drink driving or drinking and driving can be used instead.