Called Our Keyman: Our Hero, the program encourages revellers visiting Albany Highway and other local licensed venues to nominate a skipper for a safer journey to and from celebrations in Victoria Park.
The fledgling program has recruited five local venues and six people have registered as designated drivers, entitling them to a range of free food and drink at the premises until they get back behind the wheel with their passengers.
‘I think here in Australia we don’t always have the right attitude towards alcohol and drinking responsibly, and this is a great program to try to encourage a shift in people’s behaviour,’ Victoria Park Mayor Trevor Vaughan said.
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READ NOWThere are more than 30 licensed premises in the Town’s Albany Highway precinct, comprising mostly restaurants, plus some hotels, bottle-shops and bars.
The program was identified during the development of the Town’s Safer Neighbourhoods Plan 2013-2016.
The council successfully applied to the Public Health Advocacy Institute of WA for a grant to get the program up and running.
|McCusker Centre for Action on Alcohol and Youth executive officer Julia Stafford said the program was an interesting approach to prevent drink-driving and another encouraging example of action by a local government to support community safety.
‘It should help complement existing public education and enforcement strategies to prevent drinking and driving,’ she said.
The program was launched at Curtin University Guild Tavern and will be running at the Publican Bar & Cafe, Broken Hill Hotel, Causeway Bar and The Merrywell by the end of March.
Visit www.victoriapark.wa.gov.au for more details.