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Driver Distraction – a killer on Auckland roads
24 May 2013
Driver Distraction – a killer on Auckland roads
It’s the road killer that flies under the radar but in Auckland 20 people died as a result of it between 2007 and 2011. The killer is driver distraction and Auckland Transport is targeting it in a new campaign.
Auckland Transport’s Manager Community Transport Matthew Rednall says, “The figures for driver distraction are a real concern. In the period 2007-2011 not only were 20 people killed in Auckland, 57 were seriously injured in accidents.
This is quite common, there are close to 200 injury accidents caused by driver distraction each year.”
While people generally believe they are good at multi-tasking, evidence from crash statistics show we’re not as good as we think we are.
Mr Rednall says, “Distraction crashes are currently under reported and are not truly reflected in the crash statistics.”
The biggest attention diverters are the phone, car radio, heater or searching for something in the glove box. Other factors include passengers, animals in the vehicle, scenery, people outside the car or other vehicles.
Auckland Transport is working with its partners, NZ Police and NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), to highlight the dangers associated with driver distraction.
The high profile marketing campaign encourages drivers to recognise their own bad habits or potential distractions and to modify their behaviour accordingly. Crash statistics show that inexperienced drivers, aged 15 to 24 have higher instances of driver distraction, resulting in fatal and serious crashes.
Radio, Facebook and Twitter will be used as well as a novel interactive cinema campaign. The cinema advertising uses an actor in the theatre interacting with the audience by distracting then during an ad about driver distraction.
Mr Rednall says, “We think the interactive cinema campaign is a great way to reach our target audience. They can go and tell their friends about it and follow-up by doing our Driver Challenge on Facebook which highlights the danger of distractions.”
More details can be found at: http://www.aucklandtransport.govt.nz/moving-around/road-safety/distractions/Pages/default.aspx#text
ends
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