Campaign background
Vehicle occupants wearing a restraint are more likely to survive and/or avoid serious injury in a severe crash. Whilst restraint use wearing rates are very high, unrestrained occupants are over represented in crash statistics. In South Australia during 2002, approximately one third of all drivers and passengers killed were not wearing a seat belt.

From observational surveys restraint usage rates in South Australia are currently 95 per cent or higher, consistent with the national average. However, continuing to increase compliance with restraint usage will continue to save many lives per year.
 
 

Advertising objectives
The key objectives of the Department of Transport’s planned communications activities will be to:

Inform road users about the strong relationship between the extent of injury and restraint usage
Present the potential consequences of not wearing a restraint
Emphasise the risk of being detected not wearing a restraint
Objectives and Target audience
The target audience for this campaign is:

Primary
Parents of children and children living in regional SA
Parents of children and children in metropolitan Adelaide

Secondary
Males aged 14 years and over

Timing
Television commercials for this campaign commenced September 2003.

Media strategies
The restraint campaign comprises of television and radio commercials. The radio advertisements focus on warning parents about the possible consequences of their child being involved in a crash unrestrained. The commercial also outlines the penalties for being detected with a child passenger that is not wearing restraints, which include:

$170 fine
Loss of 3 demerit points
The message from this campaign is that not restraining your child could either cost you money or demerit points, but more seriously, a ‘crash could cost your child’s life’.

Demonstration
The television commercial opens with a split screen shot of two watermelons, one restrained with a seat belt and the other on the seat unrestrained. The car soon starts to move and the following shots demonstrate what happens upon impact. The unrestrained watermelon hits the screen and breaks apart, while the restrained watermelon remains on the seat unharmed.

The watermelons are replaced with children in the next shot and the scenario plays out again, except this time we are left with a freeze frame at the point the unrestrained child lifts from the seat upon impact. The effect of impact is left to the imagination, but is certainly influenced by the demonstration of the crushed watermelon. This commercial intends to send a clear message to parents about the possible consequence of not restraining child passengers.