The New Zealand Trucking Association is sharing an Australian road safety campaign targeted at learner drivers with the slogan, ‘Don’t #uck With A Truck’.
The initiative was started by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) and has come to New Zealand as part of the Brake Road Safety Week which runs from May 20-25.
The campaign features social media personality Luisa Dal Din demonstrating a range of safety scenarios including turning, stopping, and overtaking a truck.
The combination of humour and shock-factor in the campaign is designed to grab the attention of young drivers, to help push the message of road safety and awareness around heavy vehicles.
“There are so many distractions in a young person’s life, like mobile phones or gaming, so the campaign uses these objects to show how quickly things can change when you make a wrong decision around a truck,” organisers say.
“Heavy vehicle safety is not a big topic amongst young people, but the goal is to join the conversation and help teach inexperienced drivers how to safely share the road with a truck.”
For the year 2022 in New Zealand there were 51 fatal crashes, 166 serious injury crashes, and 539 minor injury crashes where trucks were involved. In these crashes, 62 people died, 208 people were seriously injured, and 727 people suffered minor injuries.
“During ‘Brake’ Road Safety Week 20-25 May it’s a good time to load the campaign to all our social networks with the hope of catching the attention of New Zealand young drivers and to send a reminder to all other drivers to refresh their memory of a truck’s capabilities,” NZ Trucking Association chief operating officer Carol McGeady says.
NZ Trucking Association will be using the videos and resources provided by NHVR for a local audience in the Road Safety Truck and other events around the country.
