Zhooligan
Moderator
Post Whore Extraordinaire!
Posts: 3829
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posted March 03, 2003 06:02 PM
AMA Ride Straight Campaign
Browsing through my American Motorcyclist (AMA) magazine for the 10th time reminded me of a question or thought that I had. The March issue mentioned tht the AMA will be launching their "Ride Straight Campaign" later this year. At first glance the program looks like a noble cause and all that. The AMA has found that driving impaired and or under the influence is dangerous (da!) and the idea is to create a national campaign to reduce drinking and driving. My question to the people of this board is simple, do you think that these types of campaigns are worthwhile? Do they change your and or your friends habits. Do these campaigns make the road safer or are they really more of a feel good kind of thing.
My opinion on these things, is that they are great job programs for different groups, they create a high paying job or two for those chosen and or appointed to run the program. A few years back, my company did a significant amount of work for a Non Profit, The CEO of the Non Profit Rescue Missions, the guy dressed in two thousand dollar custom suits (24 of them in his closet according to him), he drove a V12 S600 Mercedes and had all the jewelry, the Rolex etc. to go with the image. We got to know each other quite well over a couple of years while we built their new facilities. I asked him about his lifestyle and how in the heck he afforded his toys and things. I figured him as a .com guy that made a few bucks and decided to help others. He explained to me that he had been working for Non Profits pretty much since graduating from college. He then explained to me with a sly smile on his face, that he had been given extremely good advice early in his career. The advice was "Working for a Non Profit does not mean you don't get to personally make a profit". Those words have perhaps jaded me when I look at these feel good programs!
But I don't honestly see people changing their habits because of these programs. I believe people think about drinking and driving in terms of going to jail, insane insurance rates, and the cost of getting caught. And the single biggest deterence out there is a State Patrol Car parked across the street from the Tavern!
I'm curious how the rest of you see it.
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To those who do not count their life in years, but in how life
has touched them in the past and how much it can hold in the
future; -- Youth is forever.
  
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12RPilot
Pro
Posts: 1094
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posted March 03, 2003 06:16 PM
I can't speak personally because I don't drink and drive. Not sure if it would be a deterent or not. I would imagine that alot of the problem stems from alcoholics and it takes alot more than a fancy TV or print ad to stop them. My problem is, I don't do things that all the commercials warn us not to do, so my perspective is kinda tainted. Hell, those "brain on drugs" commercials just made me hungry for fried eggs. If they come out with commercials about growing fat and lazy as you pass 40 years old, then I could be a better judge of commercial effectiveness.
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If you aren't an AMA member, you're part of the problem.
NESBA #209
http://www.bikepics.com/members/12rpilot/04zx10r/
 
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slug
Pro
Out in search of my mind...
Posts: 1433
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posted March 03, 2003 06:25 PM
hehehe
here's my thought, no matter how much people talk to their friends about it, they will still do what they want to do.
it will take something personal and big to change 99% of them.
a guy i worked with used to drink heavily, and drive home
one day he wakes up, no idea what happened since 6pm the day before.
turns on news, big story, pedestrian killed in a hit & run accident by a dark coloured pickup truck, 3 blocks from the place the guy was planning on being.
he just KNEW he had killed that person. turns out they caught the person who did it, wasn't him.
he had seen all the ads. heard all the horror stories. read the things in the paper about the consequences of DWI/DUI. had friends arrested for it.
but nothing hit home until that day. he quit drinking...
many people need some sort of life-changing event to make a significant change. especially on something like that.
that being said
if it helps that 1% to decide to call a cab instead of pile up their 12r on some bridge abuttment, good deal. i'm all for it. if it saves one life, worth it.
  
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frEEk
Administrator
ummm... yeah
Posts: 9660
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posted March 03, 2003 07:22 PM
agree with the above 2, it wont change the minds of people who do it regularly, or maybe only 1% of them. where i DO think it may work, is in keeping people teetering on the edge from doing so, and for those who are jsut developing their opinions on the subject.
the former has to do with the "feel good" bit u mentioned zhool. if all these campaigns leave me feeling good about the fact that i dont drink & drive, then i'll keep up the good "habit". perhaps if i were indifferent otherwise, that lack of "feel good" may mean when the chance arises, i just say "what the fuck, why not". i doubt this one will have much of an affect mind u.
where i see the real value is in the developing opinion group. all the kids, both under age & of age, will see these campaigns, and they do tend to sink in. look how much kids (including most of us) are/were raised by the media? we do get alot of our opinions from things we see in TV or on posters etc. so we get the message that it's a bad thing. but more important than jsut knowing it's bad, is that, especially at that age, we think the fact that this viewpoint is being expressed publicly means it's socially unacceptable, and i'd say that has more weight than it being against the law, or "bad". course, just cause it's a publicly flogged campaign dont mean it's the view of society in general, but where else do we (again, especially as kids) learn what society wants? these days the media IS society. so if the TV says so, it must be true right? anyway, point is, once people get used to the message, they accept it as true, and once kids understand d&d as being unacceptable, that is about the best thing u can do to make sure they follow the right path.
sorry, that wasnt very well written. guess i'm not even sure how to express just what i mean, but y'all will all get it anyhow.
as to the fat cat who worked for NPOs...yeah, thats dispicable. i was actually jsut talkin about this an hour ago. far as i'm concerned, if ur an NPO/charity, part time people should be strictly volunteers, and full time people (like buddy with the benz) should have a max of something like.... i dont know, say US$30G a year in salary. yeah i know u wont be able to attract "good" executive to run the programs then, but people who really beleive in the cause enough will still sign up, and u got plenty of big successful management/executives who retire and are looking for something like this to do. thing is, buttdy the NPO is basically bullshit. like buddy said, it dont mean u cant make a good salary. it just means the COMPANY doesnt have profits. some (all?) of those debt counseling companies are NPO's, but they pay $25 per lead to affiliates. a client of line does this. has a form for people to request a free evaluation. they fill it in, he sends the info to the debt counseling co. they send him $25. yeah, NPO my ass.
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