RADD creates and uses celebrity-driven messages on radio to raise awareness of the dangers associated with drink driving and to promote safe alternatives. RADD is not anti-alcohol nor is it anti-drinking - it simply tries to make youth and young adults more aware of the dangers of drink driving and how the use of common-sense and planning ahead can help to avoid senseless tragedies.
The facts about youth drink driving in Australia are pretty sobering:
- in Australia, a major cause of death for people 18-25 is road accidents
- road fatalities in Australia are highest amongst the 18-25-year old age group, accounting for approx. 26 per cent of all road fatalities
- the estimated cost to Australian communities of alcohol-related road accidents for the 18-25 year old age bracket alone is nearly $1.6 billion per annum
- almost half those killed in drink-driving crashes are innocent victims ... someone's husband, wife, brother, sister, mother, father, daughter, son, partner, or friend
The tragedy in all of this is that drink driving is preventable.
Although the RADD project only got underway in Australia in late January 2004, we're partnered with RADD in the U.S. (www.radd.org ) which has been operating successfully as a non-profit organisation since 1986 and has received numerous awards from the U.S. Department of Transportation. RADD in the U.S. has had support from more than 500 different personalities over the years, including Justin Timberlake, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Black Eyed Peas, Paul McCartney, Shaquille O'Neal, No Doubt, KISS, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Phil Collins, and Ozzy Osbourne - just to name a few.
In Australia, RADD already has support from over 500 Australian personalities, including: Delta Goodrem, Ian Thorpe, Missy Higgins, Grant Hackett, Jodie Henry, Petria Thomas, and twelve other members of the Australian Olympic Swim Team, Pete Murray, The Living End, george, Katie Underwood, Human Nature, Zinc, Paulini, Adam Gilchrist, Kirk Pengilly of INXS, Dallas Crane, Eskimo Joe, and Fur Patrol key players from the Wallabies, the AFL and the NRL, Layne Beachley, Pat Rafter, Matthew Hayden, Mark Webber, Peter Brock, Mark Skaife, Marcos Ambrose, Eric Bana, Jimeoin, and Tammin Sursok. More recording is being done every week.
The RADD cause in Australia is supported by more than 300 radio stations across the country and - from a communications perspective - each state and territory road safety body. Key networks include: Austereo’s TODAY Network, the NOVA Network, Austereo’s Triple M Network, both the MIX and Gold streams of ARN, Southern Cross Broadcasting, the 93 stations of the Macquarie Regional Radioworks (the amalgamation of RG Capital and DMG’s regional networks), the Communikty Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA), as well as many independent commercial and community stations.
