Re:act returns to Queensland, with a new road safety partner and a focus on fatigue among young drivers.

About 70 Queensland university students will create campaigns to educate their peers about the dangers of driving fatigued, as the Re:act road safety behaviour change program returns to the state today.

RACQ has come on board as a program partner as Re:act runs with advertising students at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) for the second consecutive year. Re:act ran in Australia in first semester at Swinburne University in Melbourne, University of Technology Sydney, at Curtin University in Perth for the first time, and internationally through University of the Arts London.

An initiative of strategic creative behaviour change agency Hard Edge, Re:act challenges local university students to create a campaign that raises awareness among 18-25 year old road users of a critical road safety issue. Selected student campaigns are developed for public execution via media partner oOh!media’s extensive network including roadside billboards, retail, street furniture and university campus screens.

Hard Edge and Re:act Founder Andrew Hardwick said the Re:act program with QUT follows last week’s launch of the ‘Take a Break Mate’ campaign, which was created as part of the Re:act TAFE program that ran with Queensland TAFE students earlier this year.

“Many Queenslanders will have seen the ‘Take a Break Mate’ message across 250 digital billboards in the past week,” Andrew said. “That striking campaign is typical of the standard of work students produce for their Re:act campaigns and we’re excited to see what third year advertising students at QUT come up with in coming weeks.

“The continued support Re:act has received from Queensland University of Technology and our returning program partners in Queensland, combined with the addition of RACQ to support the program in 2021, is a strong vote of confidence in the effectiveness of the program.”

“It’s a sad reality that young drivers are over-represented in crash fatalities,” RACQ Community and Education Manager David Contarini said. “Our 16-25 year olds are 60 per cent more likely to be involved in a serious crash than a licensed adult driver. We owe it to the next generation of road users to educate them about how to be safe of the road.

“Programs like Re:act make our young drivers aware that fatigue is a major cause of serious crashes and, by the very nature of their young age, they are already at a higher risk.”

Associate Professor Ioni Lewis, from the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q) added: “CARRS-Q is delighted to once again partner with the Re:act behaviour change program in their shared commitment to keeping the community safe on our roads.

“I’m thrilled to be part of the stakeholder panel, along with representatives from TMR, RACQ, Transurban and Telstra, and I look forward to seeing what innovative ways the students come up with to address driver fatigue, a significant road safety risk among young drivers.”

Visit reactforchange.com to learn more about the Re:act program.

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For further information:

Andrew Hardwick
CEO – Hard Edge & Re:act
M +61 (0)417 334 399
ahardwick@hardedge.com.au

An initiative of Hard Edge, the annual Re:act program challenges local higher education students to create a behaviour change campaign that raises awareness among 16-25 year old road users of a critical road safety issue where they are overrepresented. A panel of university or TAFE, road and workplace safety, and industry partners selects the most compelling road safety campaign in each state, which is then developed and launched on university or TAFE campuses and oOh!media’s digital assets, including its landmark billboards. Now in its sixth year, Re:act ran in 2020 in Melbourne with Swinburne, UTS in Sydney and, for the first time, Brisbane, through QUT. The program also expanded internationally into London, at University of the Arts London. In 2021, the Re:act program will once again run in each of those institutions and grow further in Australia, running in Perth for the first time with Curtin University as well as in TAFE campuses across Australia. There are further plans for international expansion into Europe, the United States and South America.