BEST MATE
The ‘Best Mate’ campaign is based around a short film showing three young friends enjoying a game of beach volleyball. The sense of fun and exuberance is replaced by feelings of guilt and remorse for one player as he sees the fourth member of the ‘gang’ watching from the sidelines, unable to join the others having lost a leg in a car crash. The campaign states ‘You crashed the car, your mate has to live with it’.
The campaign portrays a realistic scenario as every year thousands of young people are affected by the consequences of road traffic collisions. Young people are at greatest risk of being injured or killed in road traffic collisions. In 2006 for example, 32,677 17-21 year old car users were killed or injured in Great Britain and 17-21 year olds represented a quarter of car users killed (DfT figures).
The making of the campaign was particularly poignant for Oliver Netherton, the male volley ball player in the film. Two of Oliver’s friends died in a car crash in which the driver survived. Regardless of the cause of the crash, the driver is having to live knowing that two of his friends died whilst in his care.
The film can be viewed at www.best-mate.net and is also being promoted on You Tube, via social networking sites. It will also be supported by radio adverts, outdoor posters, attendance at local college events and advertising on fire appliances across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin.
THE END
Our drink/drug drive campaign, called ‘The End’, is aimed at 17-24 year olds and uses a story board approach to show how choosing to drive after having consumed alcohol or drugs could bring ‘The End’ to much of what young people take for granted in their lives. The campaign aims to show that alcohol and drugs impair an individual’s ability to drive safely, increasing the risk of them causing a collision and injuring or killing themselves or someone close to them. Girl -small.jpg)
Worryingly the use of illegal drugs by the younger generation has been found to be increasing. Nearly half of 16 to 24 year olds in England and Wales are reported as using cannabis at least once and 39% reported to having taken hallucinogens (British Medical Association).
One of the campaign adverts shows a young woman being breathalysed driving home the morning after a night out to highlight that people can still find themselves over the legal drink drive limit the following day.
To order A4 posters or beermats featuring the campaign please contact us on the link at the top right of this page.
Cyclewise
Over the past three years (2005-2007) 8% of all recorded collisions within West Mercia involved pedal cycles, whilst 12% involved pedestrians. Our pedestrian and cyclist campaign was launched in June 2008 to try to address this problem. A third of all pedal cycle and pedestrian casualties were in the 10-19 age bracket and last year alone there were 4 fatalities involving cycles and 13 pedestrian fatalities. As part of the campaign we will also be offering free ‘Cyclewise’ safety packs - high visibility fluorescent bags containing reflectors, puncture repair kits and other items to help stay safe on the roads. These will be available from local road safety officers through school cycle training.
To target a wider group, including the older age group and other motorists to make them more aware of the risks that are present when sharing the road with other users, advertising on buses, within leisure centres and cinemas will be running through June and July.
Click here to download one of our pdf posters.
On yer Bike!
Our motorcycle campaign was launched in April 2008. Key to the campaign was identifying motorcycle collision routes through West Mercia and ensuring additional signs were put up along these routes warning both motorcycle riders and other motorists to be more aware.
We also teamed up with the Insitute of Advanced Motorists to offer free of charge 'Ride Check' assessments, contact local group
