FAQs
Here you will find the answers to a number of Frequently Asked Questions.
Click on the relative question to obtain the answer.
All this type of advertising does is upset
people who have lost loved ones in
accidents. Nobody is going to change their behaviour just because of one ad – so why show them?
Road
deaths and serious injuries are
a shocking occurrence. Last year 521 people were killed on our roads, 147 in Northern Ireland and 374 in the Republic. We want people to sit up and take notice of the message.The
research evidence from all our
previous campaigns shows that they capture massive public awareness and produce significant attitude
improvements.
We have evidence of people’s behaviour changing and lives
being saved by previous ads. For example, seatbelt wearing has improved massively – to the highest ever
levels in both the Republic and Northern Ireland, since the launch of that advertisement in 2001 and
this has steadily increased to all-time high rates.
Research has consistently
shown us that the vast majority of people agree that the graphic ‘tell it like it is’ nature of the
ads is necessary to combat the carnage on our roads.
People
do not watch the ads so how can they
be successful?
People
do watch and pay heed to
these campaigns. Awareness scores of over 93% for all these advertisements prove that they are watched. Indeed our advertisements have all topped the industry’s ‘Adwatch’ Spontaneous Awareness charts.
Road
deaths are going up again - does this not prove that road
safety advertising does not work and is all a waste of money?
In
overall
terms road deaths have fallen. In the Republic in 1997 at the start of the Government’s Road Safety
Strategy 472 people died on roads in the Republic of Ireland. In 2004 a total of 374 people lost their
lives. This represents a 20% drop in road deaths against a background of a 25% increase in the number
of vehicles using our roads.
In Northern Ireland the numbers Killed And
Seriously Injured are falling – by 2004 down by 32% less than the 1985 to 1994 ten year average, and
27% less than the average numbers Killed and Seriously Injured in the nineties.
Central
to this success have been the road safety campaigns from the NSC / DOE NI. They have successfully placed
road safety top of the public agenda, built community support for more enforcement of road traffic laws
and most importantly they have changed attitudes and behaviour.
How
effective is advertising in tackling the numbers of people killed and seriously
injured on the roads?
Advertising is
not on its own solely responsible
for reducing the carnage
on our roads. It has been hugely successful in raising awareness of the issue, and has contributed to changing road
users attitudes and behaviours. The numbers of people killed and seriously injured is being tackled through a coordinated effort of
education, engineering and enforcement. On top of that we will see the greatest improvements as people take more responsibility for their actions
on our roads.
How
much money has the NSC / DOE NI spent on these adverts in the past?
NSC’s
campaigns cost €2.5 million a year. DOE’s road safety campaigns cost £1.5 million a year.
When
you consider that each fatality costs the taxpayer €2,280,000 in Republic of Ireland and £1.3 million
in NI, it will be a good investment if just one life is saved by the ad.
Are
these ads a waste of money?
No. Economic
studies have proven that
for every €1 spent on road safety there will be a €8 return. The benefits flow to the health, social
welfare system and industry.
Why
are the
ads sponsored?
Without the support of
a sponsor and the North/South partnership
approach it would not be possible to produce the ads. This is the sixth time AXA Insurance has sponsored
Road Safety TV ads.
Are all
these campaigns
worth it?
Absolutely Yes. In 1972 in
this island we were killing 1012
people a year on our roads. If nothing had been done, today 33 years later we would have buried over
33,000 people on this island from road carnage. But the combined safety efforts of Engineering, Enforcement
and Education have reduced that death toll by 10,561 lives saved in 33years in Ireland – that’s why it’s worth it.
Since
1972 the number of licensed vehicles on our roads has more than doubled
– and
the road death toll has been more than halved in Northern
Ireland and cut by
42% in the Republic, despite such a growth in licensed vehicles.
Why
are you yet again discriminating against young men in the new advert?
Young
male drivers are the most ‘at risk’ group on our roads. They account for just over 1 in 5 driver deaths
yet represent just 6% of the population in the Republic of Ireland. In both the Republic of Ireland
and Northern Ireland young male drivers 17-24 are consistently the most over-represented group of road
death victims and also of drivers responsible for fatal collisions. Where statistics are available on
drivers or riders responsible for deaths or serious injuries due to driver/rider alcohol or drugs, young
male drivers 17-24 are also consistently the most over-represented group, five times more likely to
be responsible (NI, 1993-2003)
