#BeTheChange

It’s just one of the hashtags the Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works campaign, Safely Home, has employed to promote safe roads in South Africa.

It focuses on drunk driving and urges everyone to consider the effects that getting behind a wheel drunk will have, not only on you, but more importantly on other drivers.

Last year, Safely Home produced the award-winning, albeit grim First Kiss video that shook South Africans (watch it here), and this year, as a part of their Easter focus on drunk driving, they have released another.

But the subjects of the ad has caused a little controversy, with some saying it “glorifies gangsters”. The ad includes what appears to be “four hardcore Western Cape gangsters to show even they think drinking and driving is a bad idea,” reports Cape Talk.

Wheels24 carries on:

One member of the group, in the front passenger seat, says “Gentlemen, who’s driving? I’m drunk” to which a second responds “The cops are everywhere and I don’t want to be breathalysed.”

An argument ensues as the group discusses who’s sober enough to drive and they ultimately come to the conclusion that it’s better to call a taxi.

Check it:

The video, posted on YouTube in April, came with a warning:

Guess what? You are three times more likely to die in a car crash than be shot dead if you live in the Western Cape. Another thing: Our police have breathalysers that can measure how much you’ve been drinking and we will put you in jail if you are over the limit. The limit is very small. Don’t be dof. Alcohol and roads don’t mix. My bra.

Considering the nature of the violence sometimes seen in the Cape Flats, using gangsters might not have been the appropriate choice especially since they have ruined many people’s lives already.

Hector Eliot, Strategic Coordinator for Safely Home in the Western Cape Department of Transport, doesn’t see it that way:

I’m very surprised to hear anyone thought in any way that this ad is glorifying gangsterism…it does quite the opposite.

The problem lies in giving gangsters a conscience, but the message the video is trying to depict is that if gangsters can consider the implications of drunk driving then hey, so can you.

[source:capetalk]