Visitors to Colchester Zoo on 10 August were greeted by police, fire and rescue and road safety officers who were there as part of The Honest Truth campaign.
The Safer Essex Roads Partnership (SERP) has adopted The Honest Truth in a bid to reduce casualties among young drivers between the ages of 17-24 years.
The campaign features animal heads behind the wheel, each representing a particular bad driving practice; a cheetah to represent speed, a parrot to illustrate talking on a mobile phone while driving, and two chimps in the back seat to represent being distracted by passengers.
Issues covered by the campaign include, among others, not wearing a seatbelt, not having insurance and drink driving.
The SERP partners have been speaking to young adult visitors to Colchester Zoo to explain more about the campaign and what they can do to prevent collisions.
David Raven, road safety officer for Essex Highways, said: “Because the campaign is based around the animal imagery, it seemed fitting to come to Colchester Zoo as the venue and the animals enhance our key messages on driving and road safety.”
Carl Pullen, part of the road safety team at Essex County Fire and Rescue Service, said: “We’re here to promote road safety to the public. We’re discussing issues such as drink driving and wearing seatbelts, so hopefully this will make people a bit more mindful of their safety when travelling on our roads.”
Adam Pipe, casualty reduction manager for Essex Police, said: “We fully support the ideas and principles behind The Honest Truth.
“Events such as these enable us to engage with young people, discuss driving in a friendly, informal environment, allowing them to make informed decisions and think about driving behaviour changes if they need to”.
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