Kiwis love an Easter road trip. But unfortunately, this annual flooding of cars makes the long weekend one of the deadliest periods on New Zealand roads. And with a high number of deaths year after year, it’s clear the current NZ Police tactics aren’t really working.
New Zealand roads have always had slow down messaging scattered throughout the country. The problem is, once you drive past a slow down billboard, you forget the message within 3 seconds. To create change, the NZ Police needed to find a way to get their safety message to last the entire journey.
As it turns out, studies from the London Metropolitan University and South China University of Technology found that music has a big effect on the way we drive. Songs at a tempo of 60-80 BPM (beats per minute) mimic the heartbeat, keeping us more alert, focused and help us slow down behind the wheel.
So the NZ Police partnered with MediaWorks, New Zealand’s largest media network, to create SURVIVE THE DRIVE FM. A nationwide radio takeover, filled with 60-80 BPM songs that help keep drivers safe.
Our continuous set of safe-driving tunes played throughout one of the deadliest weekends for New Zealand roads. Five different radio stations, each with their own genre and audience, came aboard to help us lower the BPM, so drivers would lower their RPM. We also created 60-80 BPM SURVIVE THE DRIVE PLAYLISTS on Spotify. These can be played anywhere, anytime, through the NZ Police Spotify channel.
Radio and road trips go hand in hand. But by tapping into the MediaWorks listenership, we could deliver a consistent safe driving message on a scale like never before.
1.98 million people heard our safer songs throughout the weekend – that’s over 40% of the Kiwi population. For the first time, our important message didn’t fall on deaf ears. We saw speed averages drop by 3.8km/h in our targeted areas. These same areas had a 75% decrease in fatal car crashes. And the nation as a whole also saw a 60% decrease in vehicle fatalities. For the first time, the NZ Police managed to create a safe driving tool that lasts an entire journey.