6th July 2012

Auckland Transport media release:

Facebook your sober driver

Auckland Transport has developed its first game for social networking site Facebook in a bid to reduce drink-driving.

Sober Driver Sorter provides Facebook friends with a fun way to select a sober driver for their outing. Once the attendees are selected, one person spins (up to five times) and a sober driver is randomly selected.

The game can be played on smartphones as well as computers and is open to anyone over the age of 18 with a full driver’s licence. Each player is entitled to one play per day and each sober driver receives a Wendy’s voucher or a free music download from a selection of kiwi artists.

The Sober Driver Sorter game is part of Auckland Transport’s Winter Sober Driver campaign which also includes heat sensitive urinal stickers that reveal a sober driver message when urinated on.

The campaign is being rolled out at approximately 250 venues across Auckland including sports clubs, liquor stores, bars and universities.

“We wanted to focus on communicating with our target audience in their everyday social environment,” says Community Transport Manager, Matthew Rednall. “Facebook is the ultimate forum for this.”

The game encourages individuals to plan their sober driver in advance as it can often be too late to communicate the safety message once people are out drinking. “Ideally, we would like to normalise the process of arranging a sober driver before a night out. We hope that the positive reinforcement of the sober driver will encourage other young people to offer to be a sober driver.”

Mr Rednall says Auckland Transport is delighted to be partnering with Wendy’s on the Winter Sober Driver Campaign. “Providing vouchers for sober drivers is a great incentive and shows the company’s commitment to reducing drink-driving.”

Play the game at http://www.facebook.com/makeithome

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