VIDEO: Ulster University students hold road traffic collision demonstration to show the 'brutal consequences' of drink driving
A few months ago Ulster University Students’ Union held their Alcohol Awareness campaign entitled “Give Your Liver a Break”.
The aim of the campaign was to highlight to students that there are other ways to socialise, enjoy themselves and ‘have the craic’ without the consumption of alcohol.
The campaign tried to stay away from telling students off for drinking. Research finds that social pressure is one of the most common reasons young people drink alcohol.
A spokesperson for Ulster University Students' Union said: "People want to drink because their friends are drinking UUSU teamed up with different companies and activity centres to offer exclusive student discounts for the week in order to give students an opportunity to spend time with their friends in a setting that didn’t revolve around alcohol.
"Businesses who supported the campaign included the Jet Centre, Foylehov, Alive Surf School, Brunswick Moviebowl, Lock n Load, Campsie Karting, Burnfield Footgolf, Escap3d and Eddie Irvine’s Sports. We are extremely grateful for their collaboration on this campaign. Over 300 students took advantage of one of the twelve exclusive offers over the week."
Ronan Hanna, a final year Magee student commented: “I really enjoyed the campaign, it made me realise you could spend £30 on a nightout and yet going go-karting and doing something different is cheaper and far better craic. Me and the lads are definitely going to do something like this more often. Great idea!”
The week began with a RTC (Road Traffic Collision) Demonstration in collaboration with the PSNI, the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service, a local funeral directors and the Ulster University Students’ Union held on the Magee campus.
The spokesperson continued: "The demo highlighted how making one bad decision like checking your phone or driving under the influence can have brutal consequences. The event was extremely well attended with over 130 students there on the day, and some students were reduced to tears."
A local PSNI officer said on the day, “if one or two people leave in tears, it means it had an effect on them – and if this changes one person’s life, that’s enough”.
The demonstration was filmed by Magee student Jonny Collins with the video reaching over 15,000 views and being shared more than 100 times.
Amy McGuinness who attended the demonstration outlined the effect the event had on her: “Today’s demo really touched me as I have lost a loved one due to drink driving so the demo today really made me think back to when he passed away. The demo has made me realise that I should never ever use my phone while driving or drive whilst under the influence as it may not just affect me but could affect others around me whether it’s my family or another person’s family. I feel that no one should ever suffer from someone else's stupid mistakes.”
For Paddy Sharpe, the demonstration was a real eye opener: “It was a great experience - next time I'm in the car it'll make me think twice about touching my phone or answering any calls. A really well put together demonstration that felt like the whole audience was really engaged in, well worth taking the time to go to. Just seeing the scenes at the end made me realise the consequences of even the thought of drink driving”
VP Coleraine, Kevin McStravock summarised the campaign stating, “The campaign was a great way to kick off our campaigns for the semester. It's important that we engage students with our campaigns and this campaign allowed us to do that by offering generous student discounts and free samples of alcohol free beer to reinforce the message that you can still have fun without drinking alcohol. The reaction from students throughout the week was really positive.”
The video of the RTC demonstration can be viewed below: