NZ Transport AgencyThere’s no doubt seatbelts save lives, yet each day people decide to ignore safety regulations by refusing to use them.
So much so, the number of road deaths as a result of people failing to wear them is the highest it’s ever been – and those numbers are only rising.
Aiming to reduce the numbers in New Zealand, a new campaign has aired showing car crash survivors posing for chilling photos, with their injuries on full display.
NZ Transport AgencyThe campaign was launched by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) last month in the hope that they will be able to reduce the number of road deaths with the shocking pictures.
In the pictures, which have been plastered on billboards outside pubs and bars across the country, the injuries suffered by each of the 10 men in their car crashes have been recreated – leaving a chilling end-result.
The campaign is specifically targeted towards men between the ages of 20 and 40, with the NZTA describing them as a ‘particularly hard to reach bunch of lads’.
The transport agency explains:
Our aim is to make the seatbelt a worthwhile item for them to wear. The challenge is to move their thinking from ‘seatbelts aren’t an optional accessory’ to ‘it’s a tool worth using’ as they save lives.
They don’t like being told what to do and they know what they’re comfortable with. Our job with this campaign is to bring ‘risk’ to the front of their mind and show them why they should always wear a seatbelt.
NZ Transport Agency
NZ Transport Agency
NZ Transport AgencySFX make-up company PROFX recreated the mens’ actual injuries, which although varied, had one common factor: the angry-looking mark of the seatbelt.
Emergency medical specialist Dr. Natasha McKay said, as per Hype Blaze:
A seatbelt really does leave a mark like this. They will save your life, but they will leave you a mark to show how they’ve done it.
Brigid Alkema, the executive creative director of Clemenger BBDO, added:
You can’t argue with these stories. They’re real experiences, lived by real people. We hope this truth will move our audience to wear their seatbelt.
NZ Transport Agency
NZ Transport AgencyFigures from the NZTA show approximately 90 people are killed on New Zealand roads each year because they didn’t wear a seatbelt.
And in the UK, the Department for Transport revealed the number of people who die in crashes who aren’t wearing seatbelts has reached record levels, with more than a quarter of 787 car occupants killed in crashes on Britain’s roads in 2017, not wearing a seatbelt.
Hopefully this campaign will drive it home to people, not wearing a seatbelt isn’t worth your life.
Buckle up, guys.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).