Following its ground breaking success in 2020 where it reached more than 5 million Australian road users, the Re:act road safety behaviour change program returns to New South Wales today to tackle a key road safety risk for young drivers: fatigue.
The 2021 program is the third consecutive year Re:act will run at University of Technology Sydney. It is also running this year in Australia at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Queensland University of Technology, at Curtin University in Perth for the first time, and internationally through University of the Arts London.
Re:act challenges local university students to create a campaign that raises awareness among 18-25 year old road users of a critical road safety issue. Selected student campaigns from each university will be developed for public execution via media partner oOh!media’s extensive network including roadside billboards, retail, street furniture and university campus screens.
“The Re:act program is a really innovative way of driving behaviour change on the road,” said Liz Waller, National Road Safety Specialist at program partner Transurban.
“We know that young people are over-represented in road trauma statistics,” she said. “So having students design campaigns that resonate with their peers is a powerful way of reaching this audience.”
Re:act Founder Andrew Hardwick said the 2021 Re:act topic was fatigue. While fatigue is a safety issue for all road users, younger drivers are much more likely to report driving while fatigued.
“The continued support Re:act has received from University of Technology Sydney and our program partners in New South Wales is a strong vote of confidence in the effectiveness of Re:act,” he said.
“Each year, we uncover valuable insights into young people’s thinking around road safety, and we see changes in awareness that translate into behaviour change and young people making safer choices on our roads.”
Visit reactforchange.com to learn more about the Re:act program.
An initiative of Hard Edge, the annual Re:act program challenges local higher education students to create a behaviour change campaign that raises awareness among 16-25 year old road users of a critical road safety issue where they are overrepresented.
A panel of university or TAFE, road and workplace safety, and industry partners selects the most compelling road safety campaign in each state, which is then developed and launched on university or TAFE campuses and oOh!media’s digital assets, including its landmark billboards.
Now in its sixth year, Re:act ran in 2020 in Melbourne with Swinburne, UTS in Sydney and, for the first time, Brisbane, through QUT. The program also expanded internationally into London, at University of the Arts London. In 2021, the Re:act program will once again run in each of those institutions and grow further in Australia, running in Perth for the first time with Curtin University as well as in TAFE campuses across Australia. There are further plans for international expansion into Europe, the United States and South America.
