Brighton and Hove City Council’s road safety team is utilising social media for the latest phase of a campaign designed to reduce the number of road casualties caused by distraction.
‘What Did I Miss?’ was launched in November 2016 on the back of figures which suggest that 42% of collisions are caused by ‘failure to look properly’.
The new phase of the campaign, which plays on that figure using the hashtag #42percent, looks to exploit ‘the fear of missing out’ – the same notion used in the 2016 THINK! festive drink-drive campaign.
The campaign Twitter account will see daily reminders posted over the next two months – as well as the opportunity to win prizes including tickets for the British Airways i360, a 162-metre observation tower located on Brighton seafront.
The first tweet (below) was published on Monday (20 March), reminding road users that they call all make mistakes – and to remain aware at all times.
#42percent – road users can make mistakes – be aware – pedestrian/cyclist/driver/rider – see https://t.co/1rwwVOApEz pic.twitter.com/Mx98k1B0jw
— Keith Baldock (@WDIMBandH) March 20, 2017
Specifically targeting males between the ages of 17-35 years, What Did I Miss? also features a point of view film (featured) which brings together the journey of a cyclist, pedestrian and van driver. They are all distracted – and get away with it – but come together at the end, this time with consequences.
What Did I Miss? is supported by a number of organisations including the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership and Colas. It is the latest element of the council’s ‘Share the Roads’ campaign, which has sought to raise awareness of the dangers of distraction over the last five years.
Agree – we did use 42 as the meaning of life etc – aimed to resonate from that being of that age and culture myself. However when testing with core target audience 17-35 males they didn’t have a clue regarding reference. Thus we kept it low key but delighted you got reference!
Keith Baldock, Brighton
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And there was me thinking they were using the number 42 in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. The number 42 is the “Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything”, calculated by an enormous supercomputer named Deep Thought over a period of 7.5 million years. Unfortunately, no one knows what the question is.
It works for me as the meaning of life!
Peter Wilson City of Westminster
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