This month we put the Spotlight on Tune into Traffic, a campaign that began life as a direct result of the 2007 World Youth Assembly for road safety. The campaign is based in the United Kingdom and is headed by Manpreet Darroch who is also YOURS’ Communication Officer.
Tune into traffic is a British road safety campaign that took the momentum from the World Youth Assembly 2007 and harnessed it into a focussed campaign aimed at young people aged 11-25 in the UK.
After the World Youth Assembly, Director Manpreet Darroch initiated Tune into Traffic with the help of mainstream television programme via Channel 4 Battlefront.The result of this collaboration was a 30 minute documentary focusing on Manpreet’s campaign journey and how he went about creating a campaign.
Tune into Traffic is a campaign based in the UK that is spreading the message of road safety to young people. The campaign aims to equip young people with the skills and knowledge needed to be wiser, more aware and ultimately safer on Britain’s and the world’s roads.
In promoting this message with young people, he discovered that social media and a strong internet presence is one of the most effective ways to target young people through a hard hitting viral video. The campaign currently focusses on the dangers of listening to music while crossing the road. In his research, Manpreet found that a large proportion of young people in the UK admit to being distracted by their mp3 players while on the road.
Manpreet said, ‘This is a postmodern issue, in the UK mp3 players and iPods have become a commodity but they also bring dangers if they distract young people when crossing the road’.
The Tune into Traffic website features case studies of young people affected by this distractions issue. By utilizing online media, digital communication and face-to-face school workshops, Tune into Traffic has reached a considerable amount of young people in the United Kingdom.
Example of the media used by this campaign include ‘guerrilla’ style stickers, posters, leaflets as well as online viral videos and digital social media outreach.
Manpreet Darroch, through illustrating social media’s potential and the promotion of simple road safety medias now heads up YOURS’ Communication portals. In 2010, Tune into Traffic and YOURS collaborated to create the YOURS’ first ever advocacy campaign; The World Crossing Campaign.
Tune into Traffic, through its various media illustrates how young people can create lasting impact with little to no budget but armed with the empowerment of global road safety knowledge. YOURS and Tune into Traffic continue to work closely together.
