14 DAY TRIAL // As PSAs go, the one above is perhaps the most impactful in recent months and, what’s more important, it doesn’t even have to show anything gruesome to be this way. It’s called “Mistakes” and comes from the NZ Transport Agency.
Useless to say, this public service announcement is on the dangers of speeding, but it doesn’t show anything on that, save for a blink-and-you-miss it footage collage right at the end.
Instead, the ad drives the message home by freezing time before a 2-car accident takes place and having the two drivers talk about it. “If only I hadn’t been driving at such speed,” says one. “I thought I had time,” adds the other.
Clearly, they were both wrong and they will both suffer the consequences. But the most poignant point the ad makes is that the accident could have been easily avoided, but also that an innocent will probably lose his life because these two didn’t think things through: the young son of one of the drivers.
“No one should pay for a mistake with their life. When we drive, we share the road with others, so the speed we choose to travel at needs to leave room for any potential error,” the NZ Transport Agency says.
“Last year, 83 people were killed and 408 were seriously injured in speed-related crashes. Most road users recognize the risks of driving at speed and support police enforcement of the speed limit. But these statistics show that drivers don't always practice this when driving: speed is still a contributing factor in 20% of all fatal and serious injury crashes on New Zealand roads,” it adds.
Hopefully, this ad, which has already gone viral online, will make them truly understand what they’re risking when they’re speeding.