Initiative details
Austria continues to be an absolute negative example when it comes to speeding offences. The effects of speeding and excessive speed on road safety can be clearly seen in the accident statistics: Inappropriate speed was the main cause of more than a quarter of all fatal accidents between 2017 and 2021. Particularly high speeding offences have an enormous impact on the risk of accidents and the severity of injuries. Speeding drivers are convinced that they have their car under control even at high speeds.
Initiative date
to
Who was/is your target audience?
Policy makers
Public authorities
Young adults 17-25
Parents
Car drivers
Educational staff
Topic
Create awareness
Education in school or in community organizations
Organisation details
KFV Kuratorium für Verkehrssicherheit
Association
Austria
Vienna
Contact name
Christoph Feymann
Telephone number
0043664800641900
christoph.feymann@kfv.at
Website link
Project activities
Please describe the project activities you carried/are carrying out and the time period over which these were implemented.
Radio advert ‘Kati’: Nobody would expect a mother whose daughter recently died in a road accident to take immediate action against speeding. Yet Sabine Koch-Peterbauer did just that: her daughter Katrin lost her life at the age of 27 on Good Friday 2020 when a 24-year-old driver overtook an articulated lorry despite the ban, speed limit and speed restrictions.
Comment VIAS: radio advert uploaded on Teams
Comment VIAS: radio advert uploaded on Teams
In terms of implementation, what worked well and what challenges did you need to overcome?
The radio advert uses artificial intelligence to recreate the voice of Kati, the young woman who tragically died in a speeding accident. Her voice conveys an urgent message in which she urges drivers to slow down. The KFV used Kati's voice as a credible advocate to bring the issue back to the public's attention and increase public pressure on parliament. A stricter law against speeding, which was already being discussed in the Austrian parliament, was blocked by lobbyists. Four weeks after a massive public demand, the stricter anti-speeding laws were finally passed!
If you work together with external partners, list the most important partners and briefly describe their role.
Advertising Agency "heimat wien": creation / production; media: havas media vienna
Evaluation
Please summarise how you have evaluated the initiative’s impact (e.g. social media reach, survey, feedback forms, statistics).
Current road statistics show a reduction of road deaths in Austria of 25% due to the intensive reporting in the media and the regulation that followed this discussion (see paragraph below)
What has been the effect of the activities?
This spot initiated a series of decisions that ultimately led to a regulation on the confiscation of speeding vehicles in Austria
Please briefly explain why your initiative is a good example of improving road safety.
Since the regulation is in place, around 40 cars have already been confiscated from extreme speeders, accompanied by intensive media coverage. This regulation has a strong general preventive effect. The fact that this message ‘Step off the gas / speeding kills’ is conveyed by ‘Kati’ as an affected person makes it more credible and memorable than when these messages are communicated by experts or legislators. In this way, Kati gives a voice to all those for whom it was unfortunately too late.
How have you shared information about your project and its results?
The campaign has been and will be presented at many national events, special conferences and international congresses, for example Quadriga KI / Kommunikation in Berlin in November 2024. More to come!