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Roads: Safety

Answer

The priorities for THINK! road safety campaigns in the current financial year and allocated budgets are: Drink drive, £3.6 million. There are two campaigns a year, in June and December. Our primary target audience is male drivers under the age of 30 and the strategy is to make them believe there is a strong likelihood that they will get caught if they drive over the legal alcohol limit and to inform them of the consequences, both legal and to the quality of their life, of a conviction. Motorbike safety, £2.5 million. There are two main strands to the motorcycle campaign. The first is aimed primarily at car drivers and consists of a TV commercial prompting them to look out for motorcycles when driving. The second is a sponsorship of British Superbikes and is aimed at leisure bikers. Speeding, £3 million. We have a TV campaign aimed at all drivers in urban areas which highlights the dangers to pedestrians of exceeding the 30 mph speed limit with the proposition: ““Hit a child at 40 mph and she has an 80 per cent chance of being killed, but hit her at 30 mph and she has an 80 per cent chance of surviving””. There is also a campaign on radio and outdoor media highlighting the dangers of driving too fast on rural roads. Seatbelt wearing, £3 million. A new seatbelt campaign is in development and will be launched in October 2008. Children, teenagers and parents, £4.1 million. We have campaigns aimed at primary school children designed to help them learn the green cross code and at teenagers reminding them that they should avoid distractions on the roads. We also target parents with the message that children copy behaviours that they see their parents practise, so they should ensure that they always set a good example when using the roads.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

4334; 703 c35WA

Session

2007-08

Subjects

Children Advertising Finance Driving under influence Motorcycles Safety Roads Speed limits Safety belts

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk