A new Belgian road safety campaign takes an alternative approach to dissuading people from speeding.
Speed limits are infuriating from both sides. It is infuriating to get caught by speed cameras. It is infuriating when there is a 30-limit on what feels like a 40. It is also infuriating when people get killed because someone decided that they could operate outside the speed limits.
In many places, road safety and speed awareness campaigns are approached by authorities from the perspective that ordinary people can be horrified into driving and riding safely by showing them the results of driving and riding unsafely.
Certainly, the results of unsafe driving can often be horrifying, but it is also possible to apply the classic “it won’t happen to me” thought process.
It’s true. There are many people who drive and ride above the speed limit, and many of those people do not cause harm to others. But, many do.
The Belgian authorities have grown tired of trying to appeal to people’s sense of morality, but in a world where the only thing of importance is money, they have decided on an alternative method.
Their decision has been to horrify people into driving safely by appealing to their sense of financial insecurity and anxiety. Focusing on the cost of the speeding fines has been the answer of the Belgians, and their campaign ad for the fines can be seen below. (For English subtitles, click the settings “cog” button; then “subtitles/CC”; then click “auto-translate”; then scroll to English.)
It is certainly a different approach, and according to an article published by the Wallonia road safety agency (AWSR) the move was prompted by the result of the increase in fuel prices.
Rising fuel prices convinced people to drive differently in order to save money. The AWSR’s hope seems to be that they will be able to convince people that sticking to the speed limit will also save them money.
Lead image, "Belgian flag at Half-mast, City Hall, Bradford" by sgwarnog2010, is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
