A History of Road Safety Campaigns
DRINK DRIVE, SEAT BELTS AND SPEEDING (
PDF format 143kb)
Jun 1963 Belts ‘You Know It Makes Sense’
TV advert showing car crashes with the narration ‘before any of us say “it can’t happen to me”, snap into that seatbelt habit’.
Sep 1970 Belts ‘Your seatbelt is their security’
Series of TV adverts featuring Dennis Norden, suggesting that one reason for belting up is for your children.
Jan 1971 Belts ‘Clunk Click Every Trip’
TV commercials starring Jimmy Saville, the adverts highlighted the dangers of being thrown through the windscreen in a collision. These advertisements prepared the ground for compulsory seat belt wearing in the front of the car.
Dec 1976 Drink ‘Don’t take your car for a drink’
The advertising showed the unpleasant stages of police formalities and the possible tragic consequences of drinking and driving. One advert showed a woman being carried into an ambulance on a stretcher, to the soundtrack of ‘Roll Out the Barrel’.
Nov 1977 Drink ‘Think before you drink before you drive’
Poster campaign using this slogan, later adopted by the Brewers and Licensed Retailers Association in their efforts to educate people about the dangers of drinking and driving.
Jan 1979 Drink ‘Don’t drive and drink – You’re asking to get caught’ ‘Stay Low’ ‘If you drink and drive you are a menace to society’
These were slogans used in advertising during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.
Jan 1983 Belts ‘The Blunders’
A fictional family was created for a series of TV commercials, the family members were all depicted as poor drivers, causing crashes in which other drivers and passengers were seriously injured as a result of not wearing their belts.
Jan 1986 Drink
Oct 1991 Speed ‘Kill Your Speed. Not a Child’
The first speed advertisements showed ‘travelling’ road signs to illustrate the different survival rates of being hit at 20/30/40 mph.
Dec 1991 Drink ‘Selfish Consequences’
TV commercial aimed at reaching the hard core resisters, who are deemed to be relatively impervious to the suffering of others.
Jun 1992 Drink ‘In the Summertime Drinking and Driving Wrecks Even More Lives’
TV commercial featuring Mungo Jerry’s hit song ‘In the Summertime’. The campaign was repeated in the Summer of 1994 and supported by a poster campaign.
Dec 1992 Drink
Hard-hitting commercial featuring a fatally injured young woman.
Jan 1993 Belts ‘Elephant’
TV commercials using the slogan ‘Never Forget – Clunk Click, Safety on the Move’ and the image of a passenger morphing into an elephant. Making the point that an unbelted passenger can be thrown forward with the force of three and a half tonnes.
Dec 1993 Drink ‘Drinking and Driving Wrecks Christmas’
A TV commercial showed the horrific consequences ‘a quick drink’ could have on a happy family Christmas dinner with images of a burning Christmas pud transformed into a burning car.
Apr 1994 Speed ‘Speed Kills. Kill Your Speed’
These advertisements showed the consequences of driving too fast. The adverts used two victims, who were shown as ‘ghosts’, accusing the drivers who killed them of driving too fast for the conditions.
May 1995 Speed ‘Don’t Look Now’
A black and white TV advert portrayed a young girl on her way to school with a child’s voice over telling drivers ‘You’re going to kill me….’ Followed by the trivial excuses drivers use for speeding. National press advertisements and, for the first time, radio commercials featuring children’s voices, reinforced the message.
Jul 1995 Drink ‘I’ve only had a couple…I thought I was all right to drive’
TV commercial shows a young man who has crippled his friend in a drink drive crash.
Dec 1995 Drink ‘Come on Dave, Just One More’
TV commercial in which viewers hear Dave’s friends urging him to have one more drink in the pub. The visual shows a woman blending vegetables in her kitchen and pouring the unappetising puree into a bowl. The viewer then sees her feeding her son, Dave, who has brain damage, urging ‘Come on Dave, just one more’.
May 1996 Speed ‘At times we all drive a bit too fast’ ‘Kill Your Speed’
3 TV commercials used poetry readings about loss and grief (including the WH Auden poem from Four Weddings and A Funeral’). 6 radio commercials featured families of crash victims talking about their loss. The ‘Kill Your Speed’ hand symbol was used for the first time on adverts and publicity materials.
Jan 1996 Belts ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘Doctor’
Radio advertising aimed at young people, warning them of the dangers of not wearing a seatbelt. In ‘Doctor’ a surgeon describes the facial injuries which could be sustained by a teenager who does not wear their belt in the back of the car.
Dec 1996 Drink ‘Mirror, Mirror’ ‘Silent Night’ ‘Not everyone Needs a Reminder About Drink Driving’
A series of TV commercials, radio commercials, posters and postcards raising the profile of drink driving.
Jun 1997 Drink ‘Have None for the Road’
The TV commercial focuses on responsibility and reminds viewers of the thousands that are killed, crippled and maimed in drink drive crashes.
Sep 1997 Speed ‘so please let’s all slow down’, ‘Kill Your Speed’
A TV commercial shows footage of children subsequently killed by speeding motorists. A voice-over explains the procedures followed by the police when informing victims families.
Jan 1998 Belts ‘Belt Up in the Back. For Everyone’s Sake.’
The ‘Julie’ TV commercial showing a car crash in which the unbelted rear seat passenger is thrown forward into the driver (his mother) killing her. The campaign also included radio advertising at drivetime along with posters and leaflets. The commercial continued to run during several months each year as part of the THINK! campaign.
Nov 1998 Speed ‘Foolspeed’
The Scottish Executive and Scottish Road Safety Campaigns launched a major public initiative, including radio and TV advertising, aimed at reducing the use of excessive and inappropriate speed on Scotland’s roads.
Dec 1998 Drink ‘Don’t Drink and DRIVE’
The campaign included TV and radio adverts, leaflets and posters. By colouring the ‘R’ and the ‘V’ in the word ‘drive’ differently, the message is ‘Don’t Drink and Die’.
Dec 1999 Drink ‘Dying for a Drink’
The millennium message was ‘plan ahead, don’t drink and drive this millennium’ and was supported by leaflets and posters.
Dec 2000 Drink ‘THINK!
Following the start of the THINK! branding in 2000, the ‘THINK! Don’t Drink and Drive’ campaigns were launched and now feature in virtually every month of the annual THINK! calendar. The Christmas 2000 campaign included TV and radio advertising using Christmas songs contrasted with harrowing images of the emergency services dealing with the aftermath of a crash. Posters and postcards were placed in pubs and clubs to reinforce the message ‘at point of sale’.
Jun 2001 Speed ‘THINK! Slow Down’
The THINK! branding is used to convey the dangers of speeding. The TV commercial shows in dramatic slow motion the extra distance travelled by a car braking from 35mph rather than 30mph, with a child being knocked over as a result. The campaign emphasises with radio adverts and posters the importance of stopping distances and how speeding dramatically affects them.
Jul 2002 Drink ‘Badjobs.co.uk’
The aim of the advertising is to make drivers think before they drink before they drive, targeted particularly at young males aged 17-24 years, a notoriously difficult group to reach. The campaign is based on the insight that the greatest fear of young men when drink driving is getting caught. Thus the potential losses associated with getting caught are more motivating than the horrific consequences of a crash. Shock tactics are not use, humour is. The website is live and was supported by radio adverts.
Sep 2003 Belts ‘THINK! Wear a seatbelt…. You don’t get a second chance’
The campaign includes a TV advert and an interactive online crash simulator at www.thinkseatbelts.com. It highlights the consequences of not belting up, even at lower speeds in urban areas.
Nov 2003 Drink ‘Night Out’ and ‘Rights’
Two new radio commercials were launched. ‘Night Out’ is aimed at young men whose idea of a good night out is going to a club and having a few drinks, whereas ‘Rights’ is aimed at a slightly older target, 24-29 year old men. It brings home what it is like to lose your licence. Radio commercials were also aired to coincide with the pubs opening early in the morning to show the Rugby Union World Cup. In 2002/2003 the Department for Transport sponsored the Great Britain rugby league team for New Zealand’s tour of England. The test series, known as the Think! Don't Drink Drive Test Series and the Department's Think! logo appeared on the front of the Great Britain Rugby League team's jerseys.
|
RoSPA is a registered charity: Registered Charity No: 207823 Patron: Her Majesty the Queen RoSPA Head Office: Edgbaston Park, 353 Bristol Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B5 7ST, UK |
 |