Proceed with caution – Inaugural U.S. Re:act student campaign highlights shared responsibility
A clear and clever road safety education campaign, created by an American student as part of an international road safety behaviour change program, is being launched in the United States.
The Re:act road safety behaviour change program challenges university students to raise awareness among 18-25 year olds of road safety issues to change behaviour and make all road users safer.
Re:act ran in the United States for the first time in 2022, with the program running in 12 locations this year in North and South America, the United Kingdom and Australia. As part of the behaviour change program, a panel of government safety and industry partners in each location selects the most compelling student road safety campaign, which is launched in public via Re:act’s media partner on out-of-home advertising assets.
The selected U.S. campaign, ‘We are all going somewhere’, was created by University of Maryland-College Park (UMD) student Madison Beakes to educate drivers, motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians that we all have a shared responsibility to prevent crashes on the roads to save lives and road trauma. It was launched yesterday through Re:act’s foundation American media partner, Clear Channel Outdoor.
“Creating this Re:act campaign was such an amazing experience and I am beyond grateful that I was able to participate. It allowed me to use the skills that I had and gain new skills, and it also allowed me to really take a step back and think about my own personal actions on the road,” Madison said.
“This campaign and the entire Re:act experience has taught me so much and I am honored that my campaign has been selected to be shown in the real world.”
Re:act Founder and CEO Andrew Hardwick described Madison’s selected campaign as an insightful and eye-catching way to highlight the ‘shared responsibility’ road safety message to all road user groups.
“This is the first time Re:act has run in North America and I could not be more impressed with the support we have received and the campaigns the UMD students produced,” he said.
“The success of the program reflects the amazing commitment of the university, particularly through the head of its graphic design program Antwon Key, and foundation program partners Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT), Transurban, and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to the Re:act program and, more broadly, to addressing road trauma among young Americans.
“Maryland is as an active leader in road safety and we are proud that our unique program can play a part in building on those achievements.”
Antwon Key, Director of the Graphic Design program at University of Maryland-College Park, added: “Our design students really benefited from working with the Re:act program by getting valuable experience working with various partners within the transportation field to help craft a creative message surrounding road safety.”
“As an alumna of the University, it was great to return to campus and see the creativity and passion the students developed throughout the semester for traffic safety,” said Anna Levendusky, from Re:act 2022 U.S. program partner Maryland Safety Office, MDOT.
Amanda Allen, Senior Manager Government Relations and Community Affairs at Re:act 2022 U.S. program partner Transurban North America, added: “Partnering with Re:act helps us deliver on our commitment to road safety and we look forward to supporting future student-led educational campaigns in Maryland to drive change.”
In coming weeks a documentary will be launched telling the story of the inaugural Re:act program in the United States from the point of view of participating students and program partners.
