Advertising - Speed

Land mines

Key messages

• The latest road safety television advertisement in our speed campaign focuses on the physics of speeding around bends. It will go to air on 9 September 2007.
• The television advertisement focuses on the mechanics of corners, by emphasising that as a cars speed increases there is a greater probability of exceeding the critical speed on a bend, increasing their risk of having a crash.
• Fifty-eight percent of all speed-related crashes occur on bends.
• When taking a corner at speed there is a point at which the driver no longer has control of the vehicle. There is a point of no return at which the forces pushing the car off the road are greater than the forces holding it on the road. There are so many variables that even the best drivers cannot judge this properly.
• The new advertisement uses landmines to symbolise potential danger. The landmines appear and disappear depending upon the speed at which the driver approaches the bend.
• The advertisement is aimed at experienced drivers who are typically male and aged between 25-40 years. They regularly drive alone and above the speed limit on the open road. The key message to these drivers is slow down.
• These speeding drivers consider themselves to be much better at driving than the ‘average’ driver; they believe they are far more experienced and quite unlike ‘hoons’ who speed recklessly.
• Driving at excessive speed is a serious road safety and major public health issue. It is still the number one killer on our roads; speeding drivers cause over 120 deaths and 2,600 injuries each year.
• There are over 900 open road crashes each year in which someone was traveling at excessive speed for the conditions, and which resulted in injury and death.
• In the past two years, 701 speeding drivers were involved in fatal or serious injury crashes on the open road; eighty percent of those drivers were male.
• Excessive speed was a contributing factor in 32% of all fatal crashes last year.
• Although open road speeds have been coming down, 30% of cars on the open road are still exceeding the 100 km/h limit.
• When a vehicle travels at faster speeds, the driver is more likely to miss important hazard cues and increase their chances of a crash.
• The advertisement will be supported with radio, outdoor, print and web advertising.

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Last updated: 9 June 2009