TV ads target 'dopey' drivers

Marijuana-smoking "dopes" are the targets of a new TV campaign to promote road
safety in Victoria.
A new "shock and awe" Transport Accident Commission (TAC) TV ad began assailing the
senses of Victorian viewers on Tuesday evening.
This time it's marijuana-smokers and not "bloody idiot" drink drivers and lead-foots
that are the target.
In the advertisement a man called Mark, aged in his 30s, smokes a marijuana joint
with a friend before leaving a daytime party with his female partner.
He appears relaxed and unaffected but drives erratically and his companion ask him
if he "should be driving?".
He agrees to let her drive and pulls over, but gets out of his car without looking
and is hit and killed by a passing car in a vivid scene.
The "dopes" the ad targets are men aged in their 30s, TAC chief executive Janet Dore
said at a launch of the commercial on Tuesday with Premier John Brumby, Roads
Minister Tim Pallas and police deputy commissioner Ken Lay.
"Police roadside testing data indicates the average age of those detected to be
around 30-35 years, in 88 per cent of cases male," she told reporters.
"This is why we are unashamedly targeting male middle-aged recreational users in
this campaign.
"They are the drug drivers that continue to recklessly put themselves and other road
users at risk of serious injuries and fatalities, the campaign highlights why the
combination of cannabis and driving is a dangerous mix."
Mr Brumby said many people appeared to be ignorant of the dangers of combining
cannabis and driving despite "overwhelming evidence".
"Driving on drugs is highly dangerous - if you drive on drugs you are out of your
mind," he told reporters.
Victoria has been Australia's most successful state in lowering the road toll in
recent years, having reduced it to 303 last year from 444 in 2001.
Of those 303 deaths however, 20 per cent had cannabis in their system, and nearly
one in three (30 per cent) had some type of illegal drug in their system.
The current campaign will run for three weeks and from this month anyone injured in
a road accident will have their blood tested for drugs as well as alcohol.
Mr Lay said more booze buses will now test for drugs as well and he expected an
extra 1000 motorists to be charged with drug driving this year.