Wipe off 5 campaign hits the mark

01 May 2003

Media Release - 1 May 2003

The Minister for the TAC, Mr Rob Hulls, today unveiled a new TAC road safety campaign showing that unexpected things can happen and common excuses for speeding just don't "stack up".

The new Wipe off 5 campaign targeting footy fans, stars Collingwood Coach Mick Malthouse, Captain Nathan Buckley and Vice Captain Anthony Rocca and demonstrates the difference just 5km can make when the unexpected happens.

Mr Hulls said that while the campaign is light-hearted in style, it carries a strong message about the dangers of exceeding the speed limit.

"The advertisements use familiar football-related scenarios – on-field, training and the tribunal – to reinforce that any level of speeding is unacceptable," he said.

"The safety benefits of slowing down by 5km/h and sticking to the speed limit, particularly when a driver has to react to something unexpected, are enormous.

"Wiping off five cuts stopping distance, lowers the risk of crashing and reduces impact and injury severity.

Road safety experts estimate that if all Victorian motorists "wiped off five" and drove at the legal speed limit, about 95 lives could be saved and more than 1,300 serious injuries prevented each year.

"This represents huge savings in both human and financial terms that no driver could argue with."

Mr Hulls also released results of independent research showing encouraging signs that Victorians were heeding the Wipe off 5 message.

"Speed monitoring surveys conducted by VicRoads have found that average travel speeds have dropped in 60km/h, 70km/h and 80km/h speed zones over the past two-and-a-half years.

"Police safety camera data also shows a notable decrease (a 16% drop between October 2002 to March 2003) in the number of speeding infringement notices issued.

"This is despite Police maintaining high levels of enforcement – a positive indication that people are slowing down and obeying speed limits.

"These are all optimistic signs that Victorians are changing their driving patterns, however, the sad truth remains that speeding is still the biggest killer on our roads.

"Far too many lives are devastated by speeding and that's why we need to reinforce the message that any speed over the limit is dangerous and costs lives."

The new TAC campaign consists of three new television advertisements that will air from tonight. The first advertisement shows Nathan Buckley receiving a severe elbow to the head from Mick Malthouse, demonstrating that unexpected things can happen and the importance, therefore, of travelling at the speed limit.

The second and third advertisements feature Nathan Buckley and Anthony Rocca respectively in tribunal and match situations to demonstrate how stupid the common excuses for speeding sound.

Collingwood Football Club Captain, Nathan Buckley said he was pleased to be involved in a campaign that would help save lives.

"The Wipe off 5 message isn't that hard, it's actually quite simple – the faster you go, the harder you hit and the worse the damage will be," he said.

"It's time that drivers stopped giving weak excuses for putting themselves and others in danger and slowed down."

Victoria's road toll currently stands at 127, down from 139 for the same period in 2002 (a decrease of 9%).