Speed Camera Awareness

Raising awareness, not revenue.

Many rush to judge speed cameras. Slow down, examine the facts and a clear picture emerges: speed cameras save lives. Speeding causes 15% of all deaths on the road. In tests at new camera sites, excessive speeding dropped 91%, and deaths and serious accidents fell by 42%. Experts estimate some 4200 lives a year in the UK are saved by speed cameras.

Despite these findings, speed cameras retain a poor press. Too many people still feel they’re more about raising revenue than improving safety. And that’s a dangerous attitude as it influences driving behaviour. The Scottish Executive decided it was time to tackle this perception head on.

Speeding’s real penalty.

Speed, and a fine is the least of your worries. The real penalty for speeding is its human cost. Broken bones, shattered lives – speeding leaves lasting scars on families and individuals of all backgrounds and all ages. I developed a hard-hitting, integrated campaign that brought this to life across film, radio and outdoor poster executions.

By showing how speeding can impact babies in car seats, teenagers, multi-generational families and professional drivers, I highlighted the real cost of exceeding the limits: loss of life and livelihoods. A cost that speed cameras are helping tackle by encouraging more responsible driving.

Driving home the message.

Unapologetically blunt and straightforward, the campaign gained immediate cut through. Its forceful tone and emotive imagery saw it attract widespread attention online as well as gain ad industry recognition. The film element of the campaign was recognised at the Scottish TV Awards and the radio execution also gained a commendation.

More importantly, the campaign’s consistent messaging and tone meant it took meaningful steps to counter blinkered attitudes surrounding speed cameras. Driver behaviour is hard to shift in Scotland and indeed throughout the UK. But recent research highlights speed-related accidents have fallen significantly on roads with cameras on.