Awareness of the John R. Elliott HERO Campaign for Designated Drivers took a major step forward in June when the John R. Elliott HERO Campaign 300 NASCAR race was broadcast live from Kentucky Speedway by ESPN to a national audience on Friday, June 27, 2014.

The HERO Campaign partnered with the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety and it’s Driver Sober Campaign in being the title sponsor of the race, which was won by Kevin Harvick of JR Motorsports.  The race, which was part of NASCAR’s Nationwide Series, was also presented by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s ‘Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over’ program.

The HERO Campaign, based at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in Galloway Township, is a non-profit whose mission is to prevent drunken driving tragedies by promoting the use of safe and sober designated drivers.

It is named after John R. Elliott, a 2000 U.S. Naval Academy graduate who was killed by a drunk driver while driving from Annapolis, Md., to his Egg Harbor Township home to celebrate his mother’s birthday. The campaign was founded that same year by John Elliott’s parents, Bill and Muriel.

Bill Elliott, chairman of the HERO Campaign, said the national broadcast of the NASCAR race provided valuable exposure.
“Drunk driving is a national epidemic,” Elliott said, “We believe that having a safe and sober designated driver is the cure for drunk driving and its deathly consequences. NASCAR and the ESPN broadcast provided us with a wonderful opportunity to expose that message to a national audience – the first time we’ve been able to send our message across the country.

“It was an exciting race, and it was an honor for us to be the title sponsor of this race and for myself and Muriel to be the Grand Marshals and the starters,” he said.

“The race also gave us a chance to strengthen our ties with the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety and the Kentucky State Police, both of which have embraced the HERO Campaign,” Elliott said.

Part of the HERO Campaign’s effort to register designated drivers is a bar and tavern program, which calls for participating establishments to provide free soft drinks to the designated drivers. Elliott praised the efforts of the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety and the Kentucky State Police for the growing success of the bar and tavern program in that state.

“We’re seeing two to three new bars and taverns signing up every day,” Elliott said.

The HERO Campaign, which has been active in Kentucky since 2012, operates in seven states. It spreads awareness of the need for designated drivers by partnering with schools, law enforcement agencies, professional sports teams, bars and other groups and businesses.

Bill and Muriel Elliott also served as Grand Marshals of the Drive Sober 150 NASCAR race at Dover (Del.) Speedway in 2013, when the HERO Campaign partnered with the Delaware Division of Highway Safety.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 33,561 people died in traffic crashes in 2012 in the United States (latest figures available), including an estimated 10,322 people who died in drunk driving crashes, accounting for 31% of all traffic deaths that year. In Kentucky, 168 traffic deaths were alcohol-related in 2012.

In New Jersey, 164 deaths followed alcohol-related crashes in 2012.