New advertising approach for young speeders

Young male drivers are the target of a new series of television commercials that go to air on Sunday, 11 June, the Land Transport Safety Authority announced today.

Director of Land Transport Safety Reg Barrett said that a new approach had been taken to the structure of the commercials in order to attract and maintain the attention of the young target audience.

The commercials have the flexibility to be run as a series of four short vignettes within one commercial break or to be edited together. The “teaser” advertisements show the consequences of a speeding crash – loss of independence, loss of mobility and being ostracised by friends. The series concludes with a 30-second advertisement at the end of the commercial break showing the driving behaviour that resulted in the crash.

Mr Barrett told students during the premiere of the commercials at Takapuna Grammar today that young male drivers aged between 17 and 25 accounted for nearly half of all speed-related open road fatal or serious injury crashes.
“That figure is just appalling,” he said.

“Speeding drivers aren’t just killing themselves on our roads, they are killing and maiming others. In the past two years, 514 young speeding drivers were involved in crashes that killed 114 people and injured nearly 800.”

Mr Barrett said that the new commercials aimed to change the attitude of young drivers towards speeding.

“Speeding is selfish, it is arrogant and it is not cool. Young drivers must realise that driving is not a right, it is a privilege and they must prove themselves responsible enough to handle that privilege.”

The commercials were directed by Niki Caro, who has a number of award winning short films under her belt as well as a feature film, Memory and Desire.

© Scoop Media