Safety

Victorian Government Takes Online Aproach to Target Youth

The Victorian State Government has adopted a new and controversial approach to target bad driving behaviours in young motorists, with the reveal of an online social media campaign.

Launched yesterday, on the back of another horror weekend on Victorian roads and in the lead up to Easter, Roads and Ports Minister Tim Pallas said the new campaign was designed to connect with young motorists and young people learning to drive.

In an attempt to relate to the younger generation, the internet campaign, incorporates the slogans “don’t be a dickhead, wear your seatlbelt,” and “don’t be a dickhead, don’t use your phone.”

“We understand people are concerned about safety on our roads, which is why the Brumby Labor Government is introducing innovative new ways to drive down the road toll and reduce serious injury,” Mr Pallas said.

“The new viral ad campaign is humorous but with a serious message. It’s a progressive new social media campaign aimed at making young drivers more aware of road safety issues in a format they understand and appreciate.

“This is about talking directly with young Victorians and passing on the road safety message through their social network. Viral ads spread through word-of-mouth and people connecting with each other online.”

Mr Pallas said a series of nine video clips had been produced by VicRoads in conjunction with Downwind Media that could be viewed on the VicRoads website and YouTube.

“Sixty-two percent of young people watch online videos and fifty-eight percent regularly visit social networking sites,” he said.

“Young people spend twice as much time per week on the internet than they do watching television and almost three times more time on the internet than listening to the radio.

“Communicating in this way encourages our target audience to engage with the message, and ask their peers to also participate by endorsing the message and forwarding it to friends.”

A targeted social networking strategy will also be implemented in the coming weeks, which will seed the clips onto websites, forums and blogs that attract young people.

Mr Pallas said the risks of mobile phone usage in cars remained one of the biggest issues among young drivers and formed a key part of the campaign.

“The campaign aims to demonstrate and get the message across that it is socially unacceptable to use a mobile phone while driving,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner Lay welcomed the campaign and said it was a new way to educate young people about risks associated with behaviour like using mobile phones while driving.

“Drivers are four-times more likely to be involved in a crash if using a mobile phone while driving. Using a mobile phone is the equivalent of having a blood alcohol reading of 0.08, while texting while driving makes a crash 34 more times likely to occur,” Mr Lay said.

Do you find the language used in these ads offensive, do you think they will be effective?

Tags: don’t be a dickhead, don’t use your phone, mobile phones while driving, Tim Pallas