Think – Switch Off Before You Drive Off (Campaign)

Think – Switch Off Before You Drive Off (Campaign)

Daniel Reeve - 0701126

The Think! Switch off Campaign is to inform drivers about the risks and dangers of using mobile phones while driving. The campaign is aimed at everyone who is behind the wheel and not a particular age group, they use 3 main Medias to reinforce their message these being: TV and cinema adverts, Radio Adverts and Posters and Adverts.

Below are some links to show the different Medias, taken from the Think Website (www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk)

Posters
http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/campaigns/mobilephones/pdf/1178.pdf
I think the above poster shows a clear message about the danger of speaking to someone on the phone while driving, telling both the person driving and on the other end that if you know someone is driving end the call before it potentially ends there life. (This has also been made into a video)

http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/campaigns/mobilephones/pdf/886p.pdf
The above poster shows a road sign with hard to read text, I think this is a brilliant idea because it undermines what road signs are used for instead of telling the driver information needed to know about that particular road it simulates how hard it would be to concentrate on the road and read the sign much like when speaking on the phone.

Video’s
http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/campaigns/mobilephones/download/switch-off.mpg
This is a simple flash animation that shows a person using there mobile phone and showing the sequences that could occur to a driver while on a mobile, it works well because you normally wouldn’t expect to see messages like that appear on a phone and it is made well so you believe that it’s a person’s real phone they are looking through.

The Change in the Laws

Using a hand-held mobile phone while driving was made illegal in December 2003. Section 26 of the Road Safety Act 2006 increased the fixed penalty for drivers using a hand held phone or similar device from 27 February 2007. The penalty rose from £30 to £60 and three penalty points. (http://www.wired-gov.net/wg/wg-news-1.nsf/0/E4625237FCF30AC8802573E200267B34?OpenDocument)

They have raised the fines that people can receive from using a mobile phone will driving to further there message that it must be stopped, this has now become an offence that is not tollerated by anyone due to the amount of accidents it can cause.

Does the message seem to be working?
In my opinion it has conflicting results, the way the messages are displayed both on screen and paper are quite rash and drastic.

This is the best way they could possible to this because it grabs the viewer’s attention and instead of lying about the consequences shows and lists them to show what’s capable of happening.

In the Videos I also noticed they use quite calm but yet powerful voice to betray the sequences that are happening and the think logo.

This does not mean however that the law is being followed, I’m not sure about the rest of you but I still see people driving with mobile phones glued to their ears and there is no excuse with the invention called Bluetooth, which ok still distracts the user but just the same as if there was a passenger in the car.