South Australia Police (SAPOL) has launched a new road safety campaign urging regional drivers to “stop dying”.
Assistant Police Commissioner with SAPOL, Ian Parrott said the Think! Road Safety – Fatal Five (2021) campaign was designed to speak directly to South Australia’s regional community and comprised seven emotionally charged TV commercials which enacted the horrors of the fatal five and how they played out on the State’s regional roads.
“At the centre of the campaign messaging is the alarming statistic that two thirds of the lives lost in regional crashes are those of people who live in regional areas,” Assistant Commissioner Parrott said.
“Nearly half of the people who have died on regional roads this year have resided 20km or less from where the collision occurred,” he said.
He said the statistic conflicted with the belief of regional residents who were surveyed for the development of the campaign.
“Overwhelmingly the research found that people living in regional areas believe it is metropolitan drivers who die on country roads,” Assistant Commissioner Parrott said.
“Our aim with this campaign is to dispel that myth.
“We need regional road users to understand that they are as susceptible to the fatal five as anyone else.”
He said drink or drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt, excessive speed, distraction and dangerous driving, including driving when fatigued, were the behaviours killing people from regional communities and it needed to stop.
He said while only 30% of South Australia’s population lived in regional or rural areas, an alarming 70% of deaths happened on regional roads.
Assistant Commissioner Parrott said the initial campaign is to run until the middle of November across TV, regional newspapers, social media and digital platforms, roadside billboards and pubs, clubs and road houses, before returning in April 2022.
The road safety campaign can be viewed at this PS News link.
