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Plod hopes Bluetooth messages will stem drinking

Tried everything else

Police in Edinburgh are to pester locals with Bluetooth messages asking them how they plan to get home, in the hope of making them think before getting behind the wheel drunk.

The news comes courtesy of The Scotsman, which reports that Bluetooth nodes will be placed near drinking hotspots (otherwise known as Scotland, in our experience) and transmit text and images to nearby phones. This would include the campaign message: "Who's taking you home tonight? Bus, taxi, police, paramedic?"

The campaign is aimed at 17 to 24-year-olds and the hope is that this demographic is more mobile-equipped than others, though one might imagine they're also more likely to have set their phones to non-discoverable mode before venturing out. Of course, the message won't be limited to those who've been drinking - anyone driving past and completely sober will be equally vulnerable to being distracted by an incoming message.

Drunken driving has been made socially unacceptable within many demographics, thanks to years of careful advertising, but figures are creeping up again among the old as well as the young. Christmas campaigns always target the youth - it's more politically expedient to blame young people, and they are more likely to get themselves killed behind the wheel while drunk.

What proportion of those drinking themselves to death in Edinburgh have their Bluetooth phones set to discoverable - and thus receptive to the message - remains to be seen, but it seems a cheap way of reminding people that Christmas is more fun with all of one's limbs intact. ®

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