Young people speaking to young people: road safety education campaigns, taking a new approach to encouraging young Australian drivers to choose safer speeds, launched across Australia today.
Created as part of the Re:act road safety behaviour change program, the campaigns were devised by young Australian road users to encourage their driving peers to choose speeds that were safe and appropriate for the road conditions and situation as well as adhering to posted speed limits.
Re:act challenges communication and graphic design students to raise awareness among 17-25 year olds of road safety risks and to change behaviour.
Re:act CEO and founder, Andrew Hardwick, said the 2023 topic was a challenging brief for students.
“We asked them to create campaigns that went beyond a traditional ‘slow down’ message, educating drivers that speed limits are set for the safety of all road users and should be adhered to, and that road and weather conditions need to be considered when choosing your speed," he said.
Now in its eighth year, more than 1000 students have completed the curriculum-based Re:act program, which has raised awareness and changed behaviours of participating students, their own networks, other young people, and the broader community.
Thanks to oOh!media, Re:act’s national Australian media partner, almost 24 million Australians have seen students’ campaigns.
Michael Cali, oOh!media group director – road, street and rail, said oOh!media is proud to play its part in promoting road safety campaigns across the network.
"Re:act in particular, where upcoming students utilise their skills to talk to and inform their peer groups about the importance of road safety, is such a meaningful initiative on a number of levels, not least reaching a cohort of young, less experienced drivers to reduce risk and therefore potential harm whilst on our roads," said Cali.
Liz Waller, head of road safety for Transurban, who has been supporting the Re:act program since it began in 2016, said the company knows that young people are over-represented in road trauma statistics.
"That’s why the Re:act program is so important – students have the opportunity to create campaigns that resonate with their peers and ultimately change behaviour," said Waller.
The Re:act program is a unique collaboration, said Hardwick.
“Without the commitment of Universities and TAFEs, industry, government, and our media partner, this critical experience of the students and the vision of the broader public seeing and being influenced by the thoughts and ideas of young minds would just not be possible," he said.
The campaigns will run across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide in August and September.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.