Booze It & Lose It
“Booze It & Lose It”
North Carolina Governor's Highway Safety Program impaired-driving enforcement and publicity campaign (US-NC) launched in November 1994, with a statewide push of checkpoints (about 400 a week across 100 counties) and roving patrols, still running today.
- Years
- 1994–now
- Country
- United States
- Topic
- AlcoholImpaired driving
- Asks people to
- StopSubstitute
- Strategy
- Policy paired
- Channel
- EventsOutdoorRadioSocial (paid)TV
- Audience
- AdultsGeneral public
Evidence
Quasi-experimentalNo effect
Redesigned 2023 pilot in western NC vs comparison counties (Farmer 2026, IIHS with NC GHSP; driver surveys and 2015-2024 crash time series): familiarity rose from 66% to 81% in pilot counties vs 76% to 82% in comparison counties (trend difference not significant, p=.065). Pilot associated with +4.3% all crashes, -6.9% single-vehicle late-night crashes and -14.4% serious and fatal injury crashes, none statistically significant. The original 1994 launch was evaluated with pre/post roadside and telephone surveys (Williams, Wells & Foss 1995); results not retrieved here.
Sponsor (who paid)
- North Carolina Governor's Highway Safety Program (NCDOT) State local government, funder and creator
Credits (who made it)
Not recorded yet.
Executions (individual ads)
- City government ad naming Booze It & Lose It; ran without the required disclaimer 2026 · social-paid · meta-ad-library · 100 - 999 impressions · spend <$100
Related campaigns
Sources
- Williams AF, Wells JK, Foss RD. The North Carolina Governor's Highway Safety Initiative: initial results from "Booze It and Lose It". ICADTS 1995:347-51 evaluation · 1995
- NC Governor's Highway Safety Program: Booze It & Lose It sponsor
- The East Carolinian, December 6, 1994 news · 1994
- Farmer CM, Eichelberger AH, Ezzell MM, Gianni TJ. Evaluation of the redesigned 'Booze It & Lose It' campaign in North Carolina. Traffic Inj Prev 2026 evaluation · 2026 · DOI 10.1080/15389588.2025.2596842 · PMID 41556774
Research notes
US-NC. Fill evidence findings from the Williams et al. paper (TRID 470165). Ad library search: "NC Governor's Highway Safety Program", "NCDOT", "Booze It & Lose It". Evidence updated 2026-10-22: level changed from observational to quasi-experimental and outcome from unknown to null after adding Farmer 2026 (DOI checked on Crossref and PMID via NCBI esummary 2026-10-22), which covers the 2023 redesign pilot only.
Record cases/nc-booze-it-and-lose-it.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign