'The look', as it has been dubbed, is the new road safety campaign message hoping body language will reduce the over representation of young men in alcohol related crashes in Tasmania.
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About 17 per cent of fatalities or serious-injury crashes involve alcohol and of that group, 25 per cent are men aged between 17 and 25.
The new 'real mates do not let mates drink-drive' campaign aims to show how socially unacceptable drink driving is by encouraging young men to intervene with 'the look' and stop a mate from driving after drinking.
One of the new campaign's champions in the South Launceston Football Club, who is promoting the message at its club and in the community.
Bulldogs' president Wayne Mitchell said the program suited the club well, as the average male age in the club was 21 or 22.
"We like to look after each other, we want our players to go home to their families, especially after a function or a Saturday night," he said.
"Our guys ... take it very seriously and we look after our mates and that's what it's all about. It's a team game, guys look after each other on the ground, but not just on the ground but off the ground as well."
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The campaign's main message is words do not have to be spoken, as a look can be just as powerful between friends.
Ads involving the message and 'the look' will be published across different mediums to reach the demographic.
Tasmania Police Inspector Scott Flude said everyone needed to be accountable and it was not cool to let a friend hop in a car when they had had too much.
"It's alright for us to be patrolling and intercepting people, but the real issue is what happens before someone gets in a car and the decisions they make," he said.
"We want everyone to be accountable in the community, because the trauma that happens as a result of something going wrong is just immense and people unfortunately don't see that."
This year 30 people have died on Tasmanian roads and Infrastructure and Transport Minister Michael Ferguson said the government's target was zero fatalities.
He said the campaign showed it was not all about what could be said as body language was a powerful tool.
"Far too many people are dying or suffering serious injury on our roads and this year we're not tracking well we want to get ... back down to zero," he said.
"There are losses of life and serious casualties, that are absolutely avoidable, and they're absolutely avoidable if people will just follow the rules and do the right thing."
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Isobel Cootes
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
