Student’s meme-inspired road safety campaign educates about risks of fatigue – Re:act TAFE Queensland selected campaign announced.

A sunglass-clad kangaroo behind the wheel, colloquial phrasing and rhyming messaging – how else would a road safety campaign educate young drivers about the risks of driving fatigued?

The ‘Take a Break Mate – You Drive Lousy When Ya Drowsy’ message was created by Queensland TAFE student Tori Sharpe as part of the annual Re:act road safety behaviour change program, which challenges TAFE graphic design students to create a campaign that raises awareness among 16-24 year old road users, including apprentices, of a critical road safety issue. The 2021 topic was fatigue.

Tori Sharpe said she aimed to use humour in her campaign to get the target audience’s attention before delivering a factual road safety message. Since participating in Re:act, Tori has also paid more attention to the signs of fatigue when she or people close to her are driving.

“Absurdity grabs attention quickly, and a kangaroo driving a car is definitely absurd,” Tori said. “You need to capture attention very quickly with Gen Z and so if we capture it with absurdity first then they will pay more attention to the message.

“Pet ownership among Gen Z is also increasing, so it made sense to use an animal and give it human characteristics because that generates a positive human reaction and makes the campaign more likeable.

“Roads are one of the biggest killers but deaths on the roads are preventable, so I think it’s awesome to have a program that tries to get new drivers to make better decisions.”

An initiative of strategic behaviour change agency Hard Edge, Re:act has been raising awareness and changing behaviour among young road users for several years, running in selected Australian universities since 2016. In 2021, the program grew to include TAFE students, with TAFE Queensland, North Metropolitan TAFE in Western Australia and Holmesglen TAFE in Victoria all running the program in the first half of the year.

The selected Re:act TAFE campaigns are developed for public execution via Re:act media partner oOh!media’s digital assets, including on TAFE campuses and in regional areas. “The thinking behind Tori’s campaign was insightful and impressive,” Re:act founder Andrew Hardwick said.

“It mimics the use of memes, a communication form the young target audience is familiar with and relates to, and presents an important road safety message in way that resonates.

“The support from Queensland TAFE and program partners WorkSafe Queensland and the Department of Transport and Main Roads in launching Re:act TAFE in Queensland this year has been phenomenal, and we look forward to seeing the selected campaign spreading its road safety message in the coming weeks.”

Andrew Mahon, Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads General Manager (Land Transport Safety and Regulation), said TMR was committed to educating young drivers to be safe on Queensland’s roads.

“TMR is proud to support the expansion of the Re:act program to TAFE students and always encourages people to look after their mates,” he said.

“Young drivers are more likely to be involved in a fatigue-related crash on Queensland roads. This increased risk is due to factors around balancing the requirements of work, study and social lives, and the impacts this can have on sleep. It’s critical young drivers are able to identify the warning signs, understand how fatigue impairs their driving ability and develop strategies that supports them to avoid being in these situations.

“The concepts TAFE students pitched to the program partners really demonstrated their understanding of fatigue-related issues and how to creatively communicate this to their peers. I congratulate all the TAFE students for their efforts in designing creative and engaging concepts, and look forward to seeing the ‘Take a Break Mate’ concept brought to life through digital mediums around Queensland.”

Tamsin Mellor, Principal Advisor – Industry Strategy and Programs at Queensland’s Office of Industrial Relations, said apprentices and other young workers are known to engage in social and work behaviour that leaves them fatigued and at risk of having a crash.

“Young workers, like others who fail to get regular sleep, can build up a ‘sleep debt’ which accumulates until they can get enough sleep to recover,” she said. “Without sufficient sleep, they are at increased risk of fatigue related crashes, errors and injury at work.

“Workplace Health and Queensland is proud to partner with Re:act and TAFE Queensland on this innovative driver safety program targeting fatigued driving. A strength of this program is the peer to peer approach, which is important to engage this hard to reach but high risk cohort of drivers.”

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

---

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.