Nottinghamshire Police has launched a new campaign, “Drink driving kills”, taking a slightly different approach to preventing drink driving. Rather than focusing only on crashes, injuries and deaths, the campaign highlights the more everyday consequences that can follow a drink-driving conviction, including losing a licence, damaging relationships, restricting work opportunities and dealing with embarrassment and shame. In 2025, 1,435 people were convicted of drink and/or drug driving offences in Nottinghamshire.

The campaign tells the stories of three fictional characters whose lives have been disrupted after losing their driving licences. A young man struggles to tell his girlfriend about his conviction, a mother finds herself stuck at home trying to entertain a child, and an older man faces an awkward encounter with an acquaintance on the golf course. Their situations are presented through short, light-hearted social media videos, using familiar and uncomfortable moments to encourage people to imagine what losing their licence could mean in their own lives.

The message is also being taken directly into places where decisions about drinking and driving may be made. Campaign materials are appearing on digital screens in licensed venues across Nottinghamshire, alongside beer mats, posters and table talkers. This gives the campaign an important preventive dimension: instead of communicating only after people have left a venue, it tries to put the consequences of drink driving in front of them while they are still drinking and still have the opportunity to decide how they will get home.

Sergeant Jim Carrington, an experienced roads policing officer involved in the campaign, says many people arrested for drink driving have not injured anyone, but a conviction can still have major consequences for their future. He recalls one young man whose ambition to become a police officer was effectively ended after he was found over the limit, despite not having caused the collision in which he was involved. The campaign therefore broadens the familiar warning that drink driving can kill: it can kill career opportunities, independence and parts of everyday life as well. Its central message remains straightforward, think about those consequences before drinking and driving, and make arrangements that prevent it from happening.

Find more from Nottinghamshire Police (UK, August 2026)