Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership
News Archive
Regional Publicity Campaign wins Award
An emotionally hard-hitting road safety publicity campaign developed by road safety officers in eastern England has won the prestigious 2004 Prince Michael International Road Safety Award.
The ‘For my girlfriend’ campaign was developed by the eastern region group of local authority road safety officers (LARSOA). The campaign evolved out of the findings of a research project into attitudes among younger drivers towards driving, speed and road safety.
The study found that young drivers – especially young males – find it almost impossible to imagine killing or injuring themselves in a road crash. It also revealed that the outcome they dread most is killing or maiming someone they are close to – for example a girlfriend or best mate – who is travelling in a car driven by them. Many considered this to be worse than killing or injuring a pedestrian (even a child) or an unknown third party.
“For my girlfriend” confronts a young male driver with the awful prospect of killing his girlfriend passenger, as a result of driving too fast. The campaign message is communicated via a postcard and Valentine Card carrying the message ‘For my girlfriend – I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to kill you’. The cards are distributed to young people with the help of educational establishments, pubs and nightclubs, leisure centres and major employers – places where young people are likely be found in significant numbers. Around 750,000 cards have been distributed since the campaign was launched.
The campaign is backed by a comprehensive website, www.fmg.org.uk, which contains information to help young drivers get the most from their driving – covering insurance, vehicle maintenance and reaction times – alongside advice about road safety issues.
Adrian Walsh, director of Roadsafe, who presented the award, said: “Young, newly qualified drivers are especially vulnerable. This ingenious campaign has been outstanding successful at getting them to think twice and to realize how responsible they really need to be when behind the wheel.”
Created: 2005-10-25 08:58:07 | Last Updated: 2005-10-28 11:48:46
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