Highways England has launched a new TV advertising campaign calling on motorists to check their vehicles, especially before embarking on long journeys.
Launched last Friday (31 March) ahead of the Easter holiday period, the campaign looks to address KSIs which are directly linked to driving without checking that the vehicle was roadworthy.
Highways England says although this causes relatively few KSIs – in 2014, 38 KSIs were directly attributed to drivers not checking that their vehicle was roadworthy – it has been identified as ‘the behaviour that would be easiest to change’.
The centerpiece of the campaign is a TV advert which is co-branded with the THINK! campaign.
The ad shows a plane full of passengers ready to take off. When the pilot says he’s skipped the routine safety checks, all of the passengers attempt to disembark.
The ad signs off with the message: “You wouldn’t fly without the proper checks, so why drive without them? Always check your tyres, fuel and oil.”
The advert will also feature on ‘on demand’ channels including ITV hub, All4, My5 and Sky.
The campaign also includes national and regional radio advertising, display advertising which goes live tomorrow (4 April), digital advertising on motorway service station forecourts and sponsored ads on Facebook.
All advertising will link to a page on the THINK! website which shows how to carry out the various checks.
Highways England says that in 2015, more than 7,400 incidents on its roads network were caused by motorists running out of fuel, and 437 casualties involved a vehicle defect, half of which related to defective or illegal tyres. It also says that 40% of breakdowns are caused by simple, often easily prevented, mechanical problems.
Highways England also says fewer breakdowns will also lead to fewer incidents on the network, therefore keeping the traffic flowing.
The target audience for the campaign is ‘long journey drivers’ aged 30-50 years, often travelling with other family members. As part of phase two of the campaign, which will launch in summer 2017, Highways England will broaden this to include drivers towing caravans.
Firstly this is a good topic and I am impressed with the airplane theme. The only thumbs down is that the video does not capture any consequences of non-compliance and so lacks impact as a result.
pete, liverpool
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