Mrs. Jo Rushton Head of Transport of Road Safety Publicity Department of Transport – U.K.
Think! campaigns
It takes time to change people's attitudes. Our campaigns try to make people think about road safety and take on board key messages. We can't tell you what to do, but we can show you the consequences of your behaviour. You may be breaking the law as well as risking your own and other people's lives.
Driving under the influence of drugs - whether prescribed medication or illegal substances - is just as dangerous as driving when drunk. It's also against the law.
Think! wants to warn people about the risks of driving for too long or when they're tired, and to encourage them to plan their journey so they don't reach that stage.
The latest Think! TV ad - 'Backwards' - shows what happens to three young men in a car crash when they're not belted in, then the sequence is re-run with them wearing seatbelts.
Excessive or inappropriate speed continues to play a major factor in many road accidents. That's the message of the Think! Slow Down campaign. The latest TV advert shows in dramatic slow motion the extra distance travelled by a car braking from 35mph rather than 30mph, which a child being knocked down as a result.
TThis year the mobile phone campaign will concentrate on cinema and radio advertising encouraging
drivers to get into the habit of switching off their mobiles before driving. Apart from in a vehicle, one of the only other places people normally switch off their mobile phone is in the cinema. It's already in the cinema audience's consciousness to switch off their mobiles before a film. The Think! campaign want to encourage the audience to repeat this behaviour in their vehicles, and explaining that by leaving their phone on they could be tempted to answer it which could be dangerous or even fatal.
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