Shocking new campaign compares dead students to drunk drivers

An insensitive and out of touch campaign will be launched by The Royal Life Saving Society, all to stop us drinking – again.

The awareness week, which begins on Monday, follows the horrific deaths of three Durham students in the last two years and will run until 4th October.

An anti-drinking and drowning video will also feature.

The supposedly well intentioned, “Don’t Drink and Drown” suggests the tragedies which have affected Durham were caused by selfish people, like drunk drivers.

Adding insult to injury, the campaign has been launched before students have even returned to the city.

Students have voiced concerns the alcohol awareness campaign won’t tackle an endemic drinking culture.

Durham wine costs a mere £6 and a double is £3.60, so for a successful campaign to work students need to be at least in the same city.

RLSS UK chief executive Di Steer said: “People die each year after entering the water with alcohol in their bloodstream, either deliberately or completely by accident.

“Drinking near or in water can be dangerous and a deadly cocktail. Alcohol can seriously impede your ability to survive in water.”

The campaign makes no mention of the successes won by students, like better lighting and railings along the river.

It was against the view of The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents to put up fences, claiming they were of “limited use.”

Bizarrely the campaign seems to encourage people to tweet the shocking slogan, proving the campaign was made by and for, the out-of-touch, the insensitive and the digitally illiterate.