Nobody wants to get into a car crash. But if you do, even a small difference in your speed can make a huge difference in the outcome.
A new Australian PSA cleverly and poignantly uses a series of escalating freeze frames to illustrate the range of effects that varying speeds can have on the same collision. And it emphasizes the importance of what a driver, despite the intrinsic unpredictability of roads, actually can control—how fast he or she is going.
A grey sedan at night finds itself about to hit a child on a bicycle. In the first version of the crash, when the driver is going at a safe speed, there's sufficient time to brake. The kid falls off the bike, but is presumably relatively unhurt. By the second crash, when the car is going faster, it swerves into a lamppost, and the kid is thrown a bit further.
Fast forward to the seventh and final scenario, and the driver has wrapped around the pole and the bicycle is fully airborne. The kid is nowhere to be seen—either because he was thrown entirely out of the frame, or simply because the outcome was too upsetting to show—its severity clear enough without being explicit.
"Every speed has a consequence," warns the onscreen copy.
Created by the Transport Accident Commission and agency Clemenger BBDO Melbourne for the state of Victoria, it's a clear and effective reminder that while roads always include lurking surprises, drivers can reduce the severity of that danger by exercising caution—and maintaining enough control to accommodate those surprises.
While that may seem obvious, and there's no shortage of other ads emphasizing the adverse outcomes of careless driving, it's probably worth noting that all evidence suggests people are still desperately in need of help remembering.
CREDITS
Client: TAC
Samantha Buckis - Acting Manager, Road Safety
Paula Vigorelli - Manager, Marketing
Agency: Clemenger BBDO Melbourne
Creative Chairman: James McGrath
Executive Creative Director: Ant Keogh
Creative Directors: Stephen de Wolf & Evan Roberts
Art Director: James Orr
Copywriter: Elle Bullen
Senior Planner: Matt Pearce
Agency - Executive Producer - TV: Sonia von Bibra
Senior Agency Producer TV: Lisa Moro
Agency Producer - Print: Nicholas Short
Agency Producer Digital: Maryne Muroni
Paul McMillan - Managing Director
Naomi Gorringe - Group Account Director
Kate Joiner - Project Director
Nicole Bishop - Account Executive
Production Company: Finch
Director: Christopher Riggert
Producer: Kate Merrin
Managing Director/EP: Corey Esse
Production Designer: Lucinda Thomson
DOP/Cinematographer: Lachlan Milne
Editor: Johanna Scott - The Butchery
Sound Design Arranger: Paul Davies - PD Sound Design
Music Track & Artist: Byron Scullin - Level Two Music
Music Production Company - Level Two Music
Post Production Company - Offline - The Butchery
VFX: Blackbird