RoSPA Press Office : Press Release
August 18, 2004
HELPING PROMOTE THE ROAD SAFETY MESSAGE
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has produced a new guide to help the media with road safety issues when making television programmes and advertisements or when writing stories.
RoSPA often receives complaints from members of the public and local authorities about the way in which road users are portrayed on television or in print.
The Society believes the media can play a significant role in influencing attitudes and behaviour to the benefit of road safety.
Kevin Clinton, RoSPA Head of Road Safety, said: “It is clear that the issues raising concern among people who contact us are often unintentional on the part of the producers and could be fairly easily avoided.
“We hope the guide will help programme makers and advertisers to show road use positively.
“We fully appreciate that there are times when poor road use is integral to a plot or character. But, for example, rather than simply showing a drink-driver or a mobile phone user at the wheel, it would be useful to indicate the potential consequences with a crash or court appearance.”
Presenting Road Safety: A Guide for the Media has been funded by the Department of Transport. Available in CD-ROM format, it is being sent to programme makers and advertising agencies and is downloadable from the internet at http://www.rospa.com/road/pdfs/roadmedia.pdf .
It is hoped writers will refer to the guide when planning programmes, adverts or plots. It provides useful background information as well as examples of good and bad road safety practice on a variety of topics including fatigue, drink-driving, drugs, speed, seatbelts and pedestrians.
“Minor details, such as ensuring passengers are wearing seatbelts or presenters are looking at the road rather than the camera, may make a big difference in a viewer’s attitude without detracting from the message of the programme or advert,” Kevin Clinton said.
“Positive images, showing safe behaviour, may help to prevent accidents and even save lives. Images showing dangerous behaviour may, inadvertently, have the opposite effect.”
