New campaign targets zero road deaths

For the past 25 years, Victorians have seen a variety of advertisements about road safety that have included both graphic imagery and a dig at their intelligence if they choose to engage in risky behaviour like drink driving (‘if you drink and drive, you’re a bloody idiot’).

This year, a major shift in how Victorians are approached about road safety has been signalled by the Victorian Government and the Transport Accident Commission (TAC). The Towards Zero campaign essentially asks people to aim for zero road deaths by considering what it would be like to lose their loved ones on the roads.

What is different about the marketing strategy is the way the commercial has been personalised.

Victorian local Francisco Cerros is not an actor but stars as the main figure in the video. Cerros reveals in a behind-the-scenes clip that he was told he would be filmed for a TAC in-house training video.

He is asked the question: “Last year, 249 people died on Victorian roads. What do you think is a more acceptable number?”

His answer is 70.

Cerros was not prepared for the sight of 70 of his closest family and friends walking around the corner towards him — showing him precisely what that number could look like. In an unscripted response, he is moved to tears before changing his answer to zero.

Unbeknownst to Cerros, his wife was in on the video plot and aided the TAC in organising the stunt.

“We realise Towards Zero sets an ambitious target but unless we’re working towards the highest possible benchmark, Victorians will continue to lose loved ones to road trauma, and we can never accept that,” said Minister for Roads and Road Safety Luke Donnellan.

The Minister attended the second annual Towards Zero Road Safety Leadership Symposium yesterday to launch the TAC’s Towards Zero campaign.

“If we’re not aiming for zero, we are saying to ourselves that there is an acceptable level of road trauma,” said Donnellan.

“Road trauma is not about numbers. It’s about our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, and not one of them deserves to be killed or seriously injured just because they use our roads.”

Towards Zero represents a new approach to road trauma reduction which will be supported by the Andrews Labor government’s new Towards Zero Road Safety Strategy, to be launched later this year.