WIREDGOV

Chilling campaign warns drivers to kill their speed or 'Live With It'

DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT News Release (016) issued by COI News Distribution Service. 30 January 2009

A harrowing new £3.2m THINK! campaign to highlight the life-wrecking consequences of speeding for drivers as well as victims was launched today by Road Safety Minister Jim Fitzpatrick.

The campaign's stark message is that if you kill someone while speeding you will be tormented by it forever. In the new television advert a driver is haunted by images of the child he has killed - seeing his body in the bathroom mirror, through the window of a bus and when in the park with his son.

Jim Fitzpatrick said:

"Speed kills. More than 700 people were killed in 2007 in accidents where someone was driving too fast - that's two people every day of the year who didn't go home to their families.

"The last THINK! campaign on speeding highlighted the shocking fact that if you hit a child at 30mph there's an 80% chance they will live but if you hit them at 40mph there's an 80% chance they will die. It's 30 for a reason.

"We now want motorists to consider the consequences of speeding for them: what is life like for the driver who kills because they are in a rush to get home and how does that split second decision affect the rest of their life? I hope this powerful new campaign will get drivers to kill their speed before it's too late."

The new THINK! campaign - 'Kill your speed, or live with it' - includes TV, radio, cinema and online advertising.

The radio adverts - 'Always There' - feature a chilling message from 'beyond the grave'. Children's voices describe what life is like for the driver who killed them while speeding several years ago. The drivers cannot sleep, watch a football match or spend time with their own children without thinking of the dead child.

The 'Kill your speed, or live with it' campaign is just one of the Government's initiatives to further cut the number of people killed or injured on Britain's roads. As well as other THINK! campaigns, including the new 'Tales of the Road' child road safety campaign, the Department for Transport is currently consulting on a range of proposals to improve road safety including increasing the penalties for those who commit the most serious speeding offences.

Notes to Editors:
1. TV, radio and online advertising will run from 2nd February to 30th March after 7.30pm.

2. The first TV ad will air at 21:30 in 'Whitechapel' on ITV1.

3. Advertising in cinemas will run from 27th February to 26th March.

4. The Department for Transport's 'Road Safety Compliance Consultation' closes on 27th February 2009 and can be found at: http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/open/compliance/. The consultation proposes changes to the penalty points system for drivers who break the speed limit to discourage those who speed excessively.

5. Radio script: 'Always There'
Boy: He goes to work, I'm there.
At the weekends, I'm there.
On holiday, building sandcastles. I'm there, beside his son.
At night, he tries to forget. But I'm always there.
I'm the boy he killed 5 years ago, because he was speeding. And now he has to live with it.
THINK! - It's 30 for a reason.

Public Enquiries: 020 7944 8300
Department for Transport Website: http://www.dft.gov.uk