Latest
statistics indicate that from January to May 2018, there had been 44,317 cases
of drink-driving, among which 25,000 cases were brought to justice—a decrease
of 765 cases (about 3.06%) compared with the same period last year. Advocating “no
drink-driving” traffic safety concept, the Taiwan Beverage and Alcohol Forum
(TBAF) continues to hold “I Pledge NOT TO Drink & Drive” campaign
activities. Last year, local and international beverage alcohol companies took
the lead and about 500 of their employees joined the pledge. This year, more
participants are joining, including 17 beverage alcohol distributors and 25 enterprises.
Just over a year’s time, we have seen increasing enthusiasm and now there are more
than 100 enterprises and nearly 80,000 online signatories who support this
campaign. On Fri. 27 July and Sat. 28 July, a special signing activity is held
at the south of the Shin Kong
Mitsukoshi Xinyi Plaza (信義香堤大道), between buildings A9 and A11.
Whoever joins the online pledge will have a chance to win a round-trip tour to
Japan for two persons and other prizes. This activity aims to attract more
people to join the pledge so as to make the “I Pledge NOT TO Drink & Drive”
a nation-wide activity.
This activity is
co-organized by TBAF, Chunghwa Post, Chunghwa Telecom, and Taiwan High Speed
Rail. Representatives from the British Chamber of Commerce and the French
Office in Taipei will also attend. It is hoped that more enterprises can join
the pledge. This year, the organizers have invited the Taiwan Tobacco &
Liquor Corporation, beverage alcohol distributors, transportations, insurance and
telecom companies to participate in this campaign. Beverage alcohol companies
have once again showed their strong support, these include the following ten
companies: Anheuser-Busch InBev, Suntory Taiwan Ltd., Carlsberg Taiwan Co.,
Diageo Taiwan Inc., Edrington Taiwan, Magny International, Moet Hennessy
Taiwan, Pernod Ricard Taiwan, Remy Cointreau Taiwan and William Grant & Sons. Everyone gathers together to show a
strong determination on the advocacy work of “I Pledge NOT TO Drink and Drive”.
MOTC Road Traffic
Safety Committee secretary Mr. Ming-hong Hsieh (謝銘鴻) points out that “From January to May this year, there had
been 44,317 cases of drink-driving, among which 25,000 cases were brought to
justice—a decrease of 765 cases (nearly 3.06%) compared with the same period
last year. These figures show that our advocacy work on no drink-driving in
recent years has been quite effective. This time, the MOTC has furthered its
invitation to include transportations, telecommunications, beverage alcohol
companies, etc. to join this very meaningful activity and safeguard a safe
traffic environment together.”
The
original goal of “collecting 100,000 pledges within 5 years” was reached by 80%
already in the second year, which shows that the general public is highly supportive
of the “I Pledge NOT TO Drink & Drive” campaign and places great importance
on traffic safety. Each year, the campaign draws more attention and becomes
even more successful. TBAF chairman Mr. Terence Ong (王德勤) says: “This year, TBAF has expanded
our activity scope and invited beverage alcohol distributors to join the
campaign. It is also the first time that we hold an activity targeting the
general public. We hope that by combining both online activity and real-time
activity, we can attract more people to join the pledge. Up to this moment, 78,009 people have made the pledge online.
The enthusiastic participation has strengthened our conviction and confidence
that the ‘I Pledge NOT TO Drink & Drive’ campaign would become a
nation-wide activity.”
The
focal visual image of this activity has incorporated all the photos of those
who have joined the online pledge. It symbolizes the collective support and
participation of many people and solicits further participation to safeguard
our traffic environment.