Efforts to reduce adolescents riding with a drinking driver might
target either the adult driver or the adolescent passenger. In the
former case adult education via social media campaigns on the
harmful effect of role modelling DUI behaviour would be warranted.
One group that might be particularly susceptible to such
messages is parents of younger aged children. It has been estimated
that children in New South Wales, Australia are subjectto 16
years of watching their parents drive before they embark on driver
training themselves (Papakosmas and Noble, 2011). Awareness
campaigns may also involve broader efforts to change community
attitudes on the acceptability of drink driving and improve knowledge
of the relationship between alcohol intake and impairment.
Similar efforts have been made in relation to the harmful effect of
child exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in cars. In this case
legislation specifically targeting this behaviour has been successfully
introduced and may be a method of conveying the seriousness
of poor role modelling and exposing children to risk. The second
form of prevention campaign involves downstream approaches
that provide adolescents with tools and strategies for avoiding
riding with a drinking driver