Aussie speeding PSA hits below the belt
Australia's new series of commercials aimed at keeping young male drivers from speeding doesn't waste time with complex morality tales or blood-splattered movies or shocking statistics. The premise is this: speed, and you're not, well ... endowed. Unhappy with results from more traditional messages about the dangers of speeding, the Roads and Traffic Authority decided to equate speeding with people openly calling a driver out as uncool in one of those unique Aussie ways they have for these things. The aim is "to make speeding socially unacceptable." According to the RTA's stats, they've finally found a way to get a young man's attention.
Thanks for the tip, Craig
[Source: New South Wales RTA]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jon 8:43AM (6/27/2007)
That clip of the Falcon in action was beautiful!
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Tim 9:08AM (6/27/2007)
That's just confusing. Does the next ad suggest you speed because your girl friend is sooo fat...
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CheezeDog 11:07AM (6/27/2007)
Im going to do that pinky thing... to people that don't pull over to the right lane.
Torqued 9:14AM (6/27/2007)
"In NSW speeding is a factor in about 40 per cent of road deaths each year. This means more than 220 people die each year in NSW because of speeding."
People don't die "because of speeding". People die because they hit stuff while speeding. Let's make it illegal to hit stuff instead.
10mph over the limit in an F250 or Tahoe is not the same as 10mph over in a Falcon or Corvette. They can stop faster and handle better at speed. Then you take into account the drivers experience and reaction time. It may not be possible to make a law like this, but the reason speed limits are traditionally enforced with a cushion is that one speed limit doesn't cut it for every driver on the road.
If I were a cop, I'd pull over the guy doing 80 towing a horse trailer before the guy doing 80 in a sports car.
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epilonious 9:41AM (6/27/2007)
Thank goodness you're not a cop.
The whole "Oh I am in a sports car that means I can handle better and stop faster" bullshit is what gets so many sports cars wrapped around trees and other motorists.
There is a wonderful place where you can open up your car and test all the limits of it's handling and it's called a RaceTrack! The nice thing about the race-track is there aren't any pesky trees or curbs or pedestrians and you don't have to worry about road irregularities or some other crazy person doing something, well, crazy. Also when you spin out and wreck some part of your car you have no-one to blame but yourself rather than trying to pin it on the old lady who deigned to make a lane change when you were trying to pass on the right doing 80 in a 55.
The ad got it wrong. It's not the penis of the careless speeder that's small, it's the brain.
Torqued 10:13AM (6/27/2007)
epilonious-
I'm not sure I understand your argument. Are you saying that all vehicles handle and stop equally? Or that I am personally an irresponsible driver who runs into old ladies? Because I don't understand either argument.
Let me ask you this. Would you drive an 18-wheeler the same way as your daily driver? Because I would drive it more slowly and carefully. If you think one standard fits all, would you accelerate and lane change the same way in these two vehicles?
epilonious 1:04PM (6/27/2007)
If you are driving a sports car on a public road. Your goal should be to drive like all the other cars, regardless of your individual cars capabilities. Whether or not your car can accelerate and turn and brake faster does NOT give you any right to speed and weave and tailgate. Thus, if a cop catches you doing it you are just as liable as the 1988 Hyundai doing the same thing. Even if you think the clunker was more dangerous because it can do less things well on a skidpad. I eschew the notion that cars should get some sort of excuse to disobey basic traffic laws based on their capabilities.
Thinking that you get to speed or weave more than other vehicles because you drive a sports car is a jackass' opinion that will get people hurt. This is because everyone else is expecting you to follow the rules of the road and not try to get around them for whatever dumb reason you can cook up (and "because I feel my car is physically capable of it" is the worst of the dumb reasons).
I retain my original point. If you have a gloriously sporty vehicle and think it can do all sorts of amazing performance feats, you take it to the race-track to prove it to yourself. You don't use it as an excuse to drive like an ass.
bmoredlj 9:26AM (6/27/2007)
Austrailia is in the dark ages! Why don't they allow women to drive cars?
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Yaktastic 9:29AM (6/27/2007)
LOL
supercujo 9:59AM (6/27/2007)
This ad focussing more on dickhead driving than it does on speeding.
The Think UK series of ads are much better and don't resort to crude humour.
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Paul 10:05AM (6/27/2007)
Unlike the UK, Aussies like to tell it like it is or as we say in the UK, call a spade a spade. It is similar to the drink driving ad they had a couple of years back,
"if you drink and drive, you're a bloody idiot" to which the response was "but if you make it home, you're a *censored* legend" lol
I believe these ads are alot more effective than the British ads. The UK Police even admit that the message isn't getting through. With ads like "there he is, there he is, there he is" in a monotonous tone followed by a car crash isn't as effective as "check left and right and then check your friggin blindspot."
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Saabyurk 11:12AM (6/27/2007)
What's with the crazy laws in Australia? They're making Saabs illegal for beginning drivers.
From www.trollhattansaab.net/archives/2007/06/saab_oz_were_sl.html
"The Saab car company is set to mount a protest against new rules that would see probationary drivers fined $1100 and awarded three demerit points for driving one of the Swedish cars.
From Sunday night, VicRoads will introduce a new definition of high-powered cars that will prevent newly licensed drivers from driving a car with a V8 engine or a car with a turbocharger or supercharger."
As someone named zippy said in comments: "You cant drive a 150bhp turbocharged 4-cylinder 1.8t 9-3 but a 255bhp 6-cylinder BMW330i is ok?"
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Guenther 3:16PM (6/27/2007)
Wow- that's weird s#it. While I don't fundamentally disagree with a graduated license program (applied also to time of day, trailer towing, occupants, etc) just throwing turbos and V8's in there is very nearsighted. Does that apply to a 1994 VW TDI? Hardly a speed demon
Jeff 12:19PM (6/27/2007)
I agree with the dickhead driving comment above - they didn't even show a single car that was obviously speeding. The tire shredder may never have made it above 25 mph, any idiot can run a crosswalk (and they usually do - everyone here actually understand that traffic in both directions needs to come to a stop and stay that way until the pedestrian reaches the far side?).
However, I do like the focus on the urban idiocy. The same twit that can't negotiate the offramp while on the cell phone is generally the same on speeding in school zones, running crosswalks, and gunning it in a parking lot when they see a car trying to back out from between two vans. What we really need here is a reasonable speed limit for the highways - setting them ridiculously low just means that no one, including the grannies running up my tailpipe in my neighbourhood, has any respect for a speed limit sign - they water down the message. I like a brisk pace with plenty of space bewteen cars on the highway, but can't stand the idiots sppeding in schoolzones or down local neighbourhood streets with kids and dogs.
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thetruth 12:29PM (6/27/2007)
Thats just a shame, glad I don't live in such a screwed up society that connects genitals to your car.
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s 1:04PM (6/27/2007)
yeah right...i always admire people that speed as long as car is under control. Please do not slow down and waste other people's time. Some people say time difference of 5-10 mins doesnt stop your life. It does dammit, it does. You get into deeep shit sometimes. So if you dont know the reason behind someone speeding then stick your tongue in hole and sit on it in public transits.
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Barney 7:55PM (6/27/2007)
Some people just don't get it. The macho image of having more power or "I'm such a better driver", will always flash in their OWN MINDS. There are even still some, who figure they drive better when intoxicated. I guess they just don't like being around when everyone else calls them an idiot. (or what the ad calls them:) )
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grajeda 3:33PM (6/30/2007)
we can drive safely and pretty slow.
But every one of us that drives with friends on other cars always have the need to prove not that you are better but faster.
I just donpt know which is the way to stop accidents... an advertisement or a commercial is fine, but obviously not enough
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