RSA Launches Time to Talk TV Ad

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has launched a new TV ad to extend its Time-to-Talk campaign.

The new TV ad makes people consider what it would be like to lose a loved one in a road collision and appeals to family members and friends alike to ‘Chat to your loved ones about unsafe driving today. So you don’t lose them tomorrow’.

The new campaign aims to address the rising number of fatalities on Irish roads by encouraging people to have life-saving conversations with loved ones about their unsafe driving behaviours.

The ad creative depicts a scenario from the viewpoint of a chief mourner at a funeral, with a young man’s photo sitting on top of a coffin. It closes with a mother stopping the young man, her son, to say something, but then decides not to, and he walks out the door.

The campaign is also a call to action to change their driving behaviours to save lives.

Sarah O’Connor, Director of Partnerships and External Affairs at the RSA said: “Our Time-to-Talk campaign was launched in May and was developed as a result of focus group insights that highlighted how young people listen to and value what their family and friends say.

Having those conversations can be lifesaving and it is vital that we speak to loved ones if their driving behaviours are unsafe. This is an emotional and hard-hitting tv ad that highlights what can happen if we don’t speak up. We hope it encourages more of us to talk about dangerous driving behaviours such as speeding, drink or drug driving, using a mobile phone behind the wheel, or not wearing a seat belt, and ultimately save lives.”

The ad is running across TV in 30, 20 and 10 second edits, as well as video on demand and social media platforms and runs until 4 August 2024.  View the new TV campaign here.

The new ad follows the launch by the RSA earlier this month of a new radio and digital audio campaign tackling five dangerous behaviours. The campaign also features new social media assets which are being launched this week and can be found on RSA social channels from today onwards.

The campaign addresses speeding, drink-driving, drug-driving, distracted driving, and not wearing seatbelts. It comprises six separate radio adverts (which also run on digital audio, including podcasts and other digital channels), running until the end of August. The adverts were developed using feedback from focus groups which took place earlier this year.

Between 1 January - 24 July 2024, there have been 109 fatalities on Irish roads, 17 more than the equivalent period last year.

*Collision data for 2024 is considered provisional and subject to change.

Notes:

According to RSA research on driver fatalities*:

• Speeding - 26% of driver fatalities (2015-2019) with a record of their action were exceeding a safe speed.
• Drink driving - 37% of driver fatalities (2015-2019) with a toxicology result available had a positive toxicology for alcohol.
• Seatbelts - 40% of driver fatalities (2015-2019) with a record of whether they wore a seat belt, were not wearing a seat belt.
• Mobile phones. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2022), drivers using a mobile phone are four times more likely to be involved in a collision.

*Contributory Factors and Driver Fatalities: Examining key Dangerous Behaviours, May 2023. The study is based on coronial data for 362 of the 431 drivers killed on Irish roads during 2015-2019.