Speedy drivers in B.C. will get a nasty surprise during this back-to-school week: a picture of their car flashed up on a digital billboard and accompanied by the message “Before you rush through here, have a word with yourself.”
The billboard by Wasserman + Partners Advertising is part of a campaign for Preventable.ca, a non-profit public safety organization that uses social marketing and guerilla activities to raise awareness of its cause.
Allan Lamb, president and COO of the BCAA Road Safety Foundation and spokesperson for Preventable, said the 17- by 10-foot billboard is a different way to get a road safety message across to the worst school-zone speeding offenders – parents of elementary age school children.
“Our research shows that most people think that road safety is the responsibility of others and not the individual, so this is just a different way of getting a message across without involving police enforcement and without wagging a finger at people and telling them how horrible they are,” he said. “The slogan ‘Have a word with yourself” is something that we think resonates – most of us have done dumb things on the road that we regret.”
To keep the surprise factor high, the mobile billboards will move to different school zones in Burnaby and Surrey, B.C. between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm. throughout the week.
