A new THINK! campaign is urging young, male drivers to think about the dangers of driving too fast for road conditions.
A THINK! survey shows young males underestimate the risks of driving ‘just a few miles per hour over the right speed for the conditions’.
Far fewer (43%) consider exceeding the speed limit to be unacceptable than drink driving (68%) and using a mobile phone (52%).
The new THINK! campaign, ‘Is pushing it worth it?’, seeks to challenge overconfidence among younger drivers and highlight that while excessive speeding is an issue, it is equally important to not go slightly over the speed limit or drive too fast for the road.
The campaign video is now live – and a toolkit for stakeholders available to download.
Richard Holden, road safety minister, said: “Road safety is our priority, but we want to accelerate our efforts to tackle unsafe driving habits and create some of the safest roads in the world.
“We’re highlighting the dangers of relaxed driving attitudes on rural roads so that everyone recognises that pushing the speed limit is just not worth it.”
The campaign also highlights that speed kills and injures 54 young people every week in the UK.
It comes as part of a wide range of initiatives, including the recent research project ‘Driver2020’ which considers the different ways to make young drivers safer, more confident and more skilful in their first year of driving.
The campaign is being supported by the RAC.
Simon Williams, RAC road safety spokesperson, said: “We know speeding presents a clear and present road safety danger, particularly on country roads where the number of collisions is much greater.
“We also know that far too many young people are injured or killed every year in car accidents, so hopefully this campaign can bring about some much-needed behavioural change among the nation’s least experienced drivers which helps to keep everyone safe on our rural roads.”
07 March 2023