Uganda Breweries under the “Red Card Campaign” has today announced a partnership with Uber where their consumers will receive free Uber rides to encourage zero tolerance to drink driving. The Red Card campaign is an initiative of Uganda Breweries that seeks to sensitize consumers about the dangers of irresponsible consumption of alcohol on the individuals themselves and the diverse consequences to their communities.
In Uganda, it is estimated that about 5% of all road accidents are due to drunk driving. That number more than doubles during the festive season.
Speaking at the launch of the event, Uganda Breweries Corporate Relations Manager, David Onyango says statistics have shown that drunk driving accidents peak during the festive season and other holidays. “We recognize that the danger to our consumers during the festive season more than doubles. Our Responsible Drinking Campaign is therefore geared towards ensuring the safety of everyone; the consumers who drink our brands, road users they might encounter, and the broader society they interact with.”
Whereas we continuously encourage our consumers to practice responsible drinking through out the year, we have rolled out this initiative as a way to discourage any driving for people who have been drinking especially during this season. “The heightened activity during the festive season alone has been known to cause many accidents, so this is our way of curbing any more accidents that may be related to drunk driving” he said.
“We shall have our people on the ground in bars and other entertainment venues. The rides will be available through interactive engagements with our teams to consumers who wish to enjoy a night out without having to drive home.”
For existing Uber users, UBL activation teams will carry out activations in select bars in and around Kampala sensitizing consumers on responsible drinking. During the activations, consumers will be engaged and stand a chance to win free rides. These activations will run from January to June 2017.
“It is true that human behavior or human error is the biggest cause of motor road accidents. Our responsible drinking campaign therefore aims to shift this behavior before people get behind the wheel, if at all. Our messages stress the need to have a designated driver on a night out, for a person to space their drinks with water and other non alcoholic beverages so that they remain in control of their faculties. Above all, our campaign stresses the zero tolerance on drink driving,” said David.
Kampala Metropolitan Traffic Commander Norman Musinga said, “I thank the UBL management for this initiative and request that such awareness campaigns be sustained in order to reduce cases of road accidents related to drunk driving in Kampala and the country at large.”
Speaking on behalf of Uber, Aaron Tindiseega, Operations Manager Uber Uganda said that the Uber model is one of the most foolproof ways of monitoring behavior of drivers because it is a mechanic that is controlled purely by the users. This coupled with their screening process means that the Uber drivers are some of the most reliable in the world.
“Our strict policies mean that you can be sure that with our drivers, you will reach home safely. Our drivers are vetted and continuously assessed to ensure that they are always in control both mentally and physically. Our rating system calls upon consumers to be vigilant and to give feedback that allows us to continue to monitor our drivers. Like Uganda Breweries Limited, we have a zero tolerance to drunk driving and we continue to engage with our drivers to ensure total compliance with our guidelines”, said Mr. Tindiseega.
“UBL’s safety precautions are not only limited to our premises. We also value the lives of our consumers and therefore we do our part to ensure that we sensitize them on responsible consumption of alcohol with regard to knowing one’s limit, knowing the right way to consume alcoholic beverages by spacing them and above all, continuously teaching them on the dangers of drunk driving.”
As we partake in various celebrations during this season, we call upon all Ugandans to enjoy responsibly, look out for each other, and adopt safe measures of travel back home by knowing when it is no longer safe for them to get behind that wheel. Our intention of Celebrating life every day everywhere means ensuring that our customers continue celebrating moments in a responsible and safe way everyday.
