Charity Urges Youngsters To Produce Road Safety Adverts
People aged between 11 and 25 have been encouraged to produce hard-hitting adverts and promotional campaigns that raise awareness about road safety.
Brake has launched a new competition - entitled 2young2die - with the winners receiving an invitation to the charity's annual reception at the Houses of Parliament and a new video camera for their school, college or club.
Youngsters can either create a short video, posters, billboards, web adverts or social media campaign that promotes Brake's pledge to improve road safety standards in the UK. Participants who also manage to raise funds for the charity will receive extra credit.
Deputy chief executive at Brake Julie Townsend said it is a "sad truth" that young people are involved in a large percentage of serious road accidents.
"Road crashes remain the biggest killer of young people and are a common cause of horrific, life-changing injuries," she remarked.
"But young people also have the energy and creativity to do something about this. We're challenging young people to promote life-saving messages by producing powerful campaign adverts and entering our 2young2die competition."
Entries must be submitted by May 31st 2014 and Ms Townsend suggested that participants may take inspiration from the UK's upcoming Road Safety Week.
Running between November 18th and 24th, the initiative involves thousands of schools, organisations and community groups and has been annually coordinated by Brake since 1997.
The charity is particularly keen to raise awareness about the dangers of drink driving, speeding, using mobile phones at the wheel and accepting lifts from irresponsible motorists.
Backed by the Department for Transport and sponsored by Romex and Specsavers, this year's Road Safety Week will carry the theme "Tune in" and will focus on how drivers can become distracted.
Brake highlights that a large number of serious road collisions are caused by people who attempt to multi-task while at the wheel and this is a major issue that needs to be addressed. It referred to statistics that show one in three drivers routinely use a handheld phone while driving, despite this being against the law.
Expert Opinion
With Road Safety week just around the corner this project couldn’t be more appropriate. More and more youngsters are involved or tragically hurt in road accidents and something must be done to reduce the amount of incidents that occur. <br/> <br/>What more emotive way could there possibly be than young drivers producing strong adverts showcasing life-saving messages. This is a wonderful idea and I will be fascinated to seeing what the entrants come up with. <br/> <br/>I hope the project is a successful one in driving Brake’s message out there." Neil Whiteley - Partner