Harnessing the creativity of young Queenslanders to promote road safety

Harnessing the creativity of young Queenslanders to promote road safety

• A new road safety campaign co-designed by youth aims to tackle speeding in young drivers
• The campaign will target young Queenslanders around Schoolies 2023
• A new reference group will help ensure future road safety communication strategies resonate with young people.

A campaign designed by young people will be released later this year, aiming to influence their peers to slow down behind the wheel.

The winning campaign from the 2023 Co-Lab Youth Road Safety Challenge is 'Speeding? You're no hero', which has been selected from concepts developed by participants of a road safety initiative designed to change the behaviour of young drivers.

In May, participants aged 18 to 25 years heard the perspectives of forensic crash police, a serious crash survivor and marketing experts in order to address the problem of young people speeding.

'Speeding? You're no hero' was selected as a finalist from those presented, and was deemed the ultimate winner after further concept testing found that it would have the most impact on behaviour change.

Young people, particularly young men, are over-represented in serious and fatal crashes, particularly those involving speed.

Winning team members Matthew Lowe, Haley Anning Rivera, Abigale Pineda, Briana Dunigan and Tenason Stark devised the concept that is designed to show speeding drivers that their behaviour is not as heroic as they think it is.

Further utilising former Co-Lab participants, a standing group is being established to provide the Department of Transport and Main Roads with feedback on campaigns and behaviour change tactics that need to target young people.

The Co-Lab Creative Council will include former Co-Lab participants, and will act as a focus group where creative concepts can be tested and their insights applied to road safety communication targeting young drivers to ensure future road safety strategies resonate with young Queenslanders.

Quotes attributable to the Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey:

“We know that young people are over-represented in serious and fatal traffic crashes, yet they are also more difficult to reach through traditional communications practices.

"The Co-Lab initiative brings together young people who are interested in making a positive difference with marketing professionals who can bring their ideas to life.

"The team that developed this year's winning Co-Lab concept will now work with the Department and a creative agency to turn their idea into a campaign that reminds their peers that they don't look as cool as they think when they are speeding.

"I'm looking forward to seeing the finished campaign roll out ahead of Schoolies this November to ensure we are reaching young drivers as many of them set off on their first unsupervised road trip.

"The Co-Lab Creative Council will provide a further resource to ensure future road safety campaigns can reach young people and inspire behaviour change in the most effective manner.

"It's a tremendous win-win – Co-Lab participants gain a valuable networking opportunity and experience in campaign development, and we can harness their knowledge of how to best speak to and influence the behaviour of Queensland's youth.

"We are always looking for more innovative and effective ways to keep young people safe on our roads."

Quotes attributable to winning Co-Lab team member, Matthew Lowe

“Co-Lab was an incredible chance to come together with people my age to learn about how to inspire behaviour change and to use our knowledge of what influences young people to help make a positive difference to other young drivers.

"Learning about the dangers of speeding opened my eyes to the importance of driving safely, and I'm proud to play a part in helping encourage other young drivers to make better decisions on the road."

Quotes attributable to winning Co-Lab team member, Haley Anning Rivera

"Our team's campaign, 'Speeding? You're no hero' demonstrates that speeding isn't cool, and encourages passengers and other influencers to call it out when they're being driven by someone driving dangerously.

"Our team are excited to work with the Department of Transport and Main Roads to bring our concept to life and look forward to seeing it making a positive impact."

Fast Facts:

• Young drivers make up 13% of licence-holders in Queensland, but comprise almost a quarter of lives lost
• 'Speeding? You're no hero' is due to launch ahead of Schoolies 2023, and will be targeted to young people, skewing to young males aged 18 to 25 years.
• Market testing found that 'Speeding? You're no hero' made speeding socially unacceptable, was relevant to young drivers, and was the most likely to impact driving behaviour
• 'Speeding? You're no hero' is the sixth Co-Lab campaign to be developed since 2015.
• The most recent Co-Lab campaign, 2020's 'Regional roads aren't a game' achieved over 32 million impressions, and 80% of young drivers indicated they would be more likely to slow down to suit the conditions after seeing the campaign
• Past Co-Lab campaigns are available on the StreetSmarts website: https://streetsmarts.initiatives.qld.gov.au/co-lab/

ENDS

Media contact – Minister Bailey office – 0419 288 284