About The Program
being safe not sorry is a joint Victoria Police/Wellington Central Liquor Accord program, introduced at Sale on 5th September, 2005.
being safe not sorry is a very successful and popular program aimed at educating the community about being responsible on both sides of the bar: responsibly serving alcohol (RSA) and responsibly consuming alcohol.
Why is being safe not sorry so potently effective
- Draws on the Principles of adult learning - active participation, meaningful material, multi-sensory learning – to answer questions most people want to know: what is my BAC? and am I safe to drive?
- Provides liquor industry staff with advanced training in the area of Responsible Service of Alcohol (National training Number THHBFB09B) covering legislation, things that can go wrong, policing the liquor industry as well as:
- Identify customers to whom service may be refused
- Prepare and serve alcoholic beverages responsibly
- Assist customers to drink within appropriate limits
- Assist alcohol affected customers
- The evening is treated as a fun night out and feedback consistently supports the format as outlined being very successful in achieving outcomes.
- Underpinned by a robust Wellington Central Liquor Accord. The goodwill and commitment by Accord members is the difference that takes being safe not sorry from being a good drink driving exercise to a very successful program reinforcing the three key elements of the program ie;
- health messages delivered within a drug harm minimisation strategy,
- reduce the road toll and road trauma,
- raising the standards of service in the hospitality and awareness of policing the liquor industry
- Drives home the key messages in the 2003 TAC Only a little bit over? You bloody idiot campaign by:
- reinforcing the message that low level drink driving is being targeted and detection is likely (enforcement)
- demonstrating physical signs of impairment at low blood alcohol levels (education)
- further reminder of the likelihood of detection (enforcement)
- showing the consequences of a conviction for drink driving on the driver and beyond to family, friends and the workplace (education/emotive)
- reinforcing that police target drink drivers in covert operations, and will not give any leeway to drivers at or above the limit (enforcement).
- showing that you don’t have to be drunk to be over the limit and that you can’t judge your BAC by how you feel. If you drive and crash, beyond incurring a fine, losing your licence or even serving a jail sentence, the consequences of drink-driving could haunt you for life - even if you were only a little bit over. (education/emotive).
- The simple yet effective model can be easily duplicated.
Feedback consistently indicates that this unique program is potently effective in educating the community about the dangers of drinking and driving particularly at the lower, but illegal, blood alcohol concentrations. The program also better equips licensees and their staff to deal with intoxicated people and provides valuable insight into policing the liquor industry.
This 3 hour program provides liquor industry staff with information and skills beyond their basic Responsible Service of Alcohol accreditation and is fully supported by Liquor Accord licensees. It also provides experiential learning for community groups on the responsible consumption of alcohol and effectively reinforces health, drink driving and other road safety messages.
Alarmingly 26 to 39 year olds females, a group with several years driving experience who should know better, are increasingly driving with BAC’s of 0.05% to 0.10%, after drinking wine. They ignore the fact that the risk of being involved in a crash increases many times over in this blood alcohol range. Their skills and faculties are likely to be impaired resulting in the fact that drink drivers are more likely to speed, less likely to wear a seatbelt and less likely to take steps to prevent fatigue.
The program is underpinned by responsibility and all participants are briefed regarding rules and anticipated outcomes with prior risk assessments being undertaken. Participants consume various amounts and types of intoxicating liquor during a meal and provide regular breathalyser samples to measure their changes in blood alcohol levels. Skilled facilitators use games to test reflexes and a trivia quiz to reinforce health messages and drink driving laws.
Liquor industry staff are allocated small groups to monitor behavioural changes and intoxication levels. Importantly this process refines their interpersonal skills when dealing with people who are becoming intoxicated. At no stage is an industry representative permitted to serve a person should they become intoxicated and transport is provided.
being safe not sorry continues attracting significant interest from other Liquor Accords, police and those interest groups who are wanting fresh options to address anti-social behaviour, reduce the road toll and deliver health messages. Corporate groups are taking advantage of the program to demonstrate their civic leadership and values as an organisation.