Had One Too Many?

Dubai has one of the highest driving related fatality rates in the world. Back in 2008, the then famous Mansion Club of New Asia Raffles Hotel was one of Dubai's most happening places, to be in and be seen. They would like to help promote a safer Dubai through reminding its patrons of the dangers of drunk driving.

Although there are so many factors to consider when calculating one's blood alcohol levels (sex, weight, metabolism etc.), it is generally accepted that anything above.08% of alcohol in someone's blood is considered drunk and severely impaired. It only takes between three or four drinks to reach that alcohol blood level.

What is more alarming, Dubai has a zero tolerance for driving under the influence of alcohol. Not even a sip. Yet a lot of hotel bar patrons still insist driving their cars home after a night of partying.

To keep our patrons safe right after they are done partying, we want to demonstrate how alcohol can affect a person's ability to perform simple tasks. Anything more than three drinks affects concentration, depth perception and reasoning.

We had glasses and coasters specially made. These had magnets that repelled each other, making it impossible to place a glass on a coaster. The bartenders swapped the regular ones with our special coasters when patrons ordered their third refill.

Results

Club car parking for patrons are always full every evening. On nights when we had our activation, more than 40% of our patrons left their cars overnight and took a cab home compared with the average norm of 15% before the activation. At the end of our activation, more cabs where hailed than valet parking attendants. All it took was a gentle reminder to take a cab should they had one too many.