Why calling someone a selfish pr*ck can save lives

The unassuming man with a neat beard and collared shirt looks like any normal guy. He climbs into his car. He’s not stumbling or slurring. He’s not speeding or driving wildly. The voiceover is moderated. He’s not angry. He’s inconvenienced.

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“Call me selfish. I drive home after drinking because I drive carefully. I don’t attract attention because I can handle the booze. I don’t hit anyone. ‘Cause I don’t want to waste money on a cab. I just can’t be bothered going back for my car in the morning. I drive after drinking. Yeah, I’m a selfish prick.”

The South Australian Police (SAPOL) Road Safety campaigns in recent years have taken a new direction; hard-hitting yet irreverent, with the award-winning Selfish Pr*ck campaign.

“With Selfish Pr*ck we found that there had been so many drink driving campaigns over the years, essentially saying the same thing about getting caught or having a crash, that we need to do something different,” explains Superintendent Darren Fielke, Officer in Charge of SA Police Traffic Services Branch. “Research showed us that all of the reasons for drink driving boiled down to convenience or ‘selfishness’. The new approach became a social shaming campaign that challenged a drink driver’s character.”

At the time, Ian Parrott, Assistant Commissioner of the Southern Australia Police, said that the South Australian Police make “no apologies for the aggressive nature” of the campaign and explained they needed to find a new way of hitting home with the target audience – men aged between 20 and 40.

It’s a problem many teachers will appreciate – how can you get through to people who might not want to hear something?

Over the years and across the country, there have been many types of road safety campaigns – some evoking shame or guilt, others fear-based or shock-value and others that focus on humour. Different approaches work to change behaviour on different target audiences.

“The Distractions/Grim Reaper campaign targets a younger audience and after a long series of campaigns using crash imagery, we thought humour might be a good approach,” says Fielke about a different campaign targeting teens. “In both cases, researching different campaign ideas with different approaches with our actual audiences led us to choose these ideas as the best approach at the time.”

In the Grim Reaper campaign, young drivers are mocked for ‘flirting’ with death, by responding to and sending messages with Death while they are driving.

“It’s not only texting or answering phone calls anymore, it’s also streaming music and podcasts, GPS and hyper-connection to social media. The challenge is not giving in to the temptation when a new notification pops up on the phone, or when someone is texting or calling,” Superintendent Fielke said.

“There has been lots of research over the years on what approach is best for engaging with audiences to change attitudes and behaviour but no definitive answer or silver bullet. Young people seem to like and engage better with a humorous approach. But if we were targeting the parents of young people, we might use a graphic or dramatic approach to motivate them to educate their children. Over time, audiences’ preferences may also change. Currently we are seeing an appetite to see the more realistic consequences of road safety. Ultimately this is why researching audiences is so important, because that will tell us at the time what the best approach is going to be,” explains Fielke.

A campaign directed at children, Jeff the Road Safety Dog, won SAPOL a national award.

“We wanted to choose something that related to police so we created a dog that looked like our German Sheppard police dogs,” explains Fielke. “Jeff the Road Safety Dog helps the South Australia Police teach road safety. Children and everyone of all ages loves Jeff the Road Safety Dog. Jeff has been around since 2018 and its great because people now know all about Jeff the Road Safety Dog.”

Though seemingly targeting children, Jeff the Road Safety Dog is a clever campaign because of the way it uses children to influence their parents and guardians.

“During our road safety sessions with students, we talk with children about how they can have a conversation with parents who might not be following all of the road rules,” says Fielke. “It is really important to speak to anyone who is not following the road rules and tell them why it is important to do so.”

Superintendent Fielke points out that road safety isn’t just about police targeting and catching those who do the wrong thing. There is a strong element of teaching the public how to protect themselves.

“Don’t get into a car if you think the driver has been drinking or using drugs. Don’t be afraid to speak up and tell your friend he shouldn’t drive or to slow down. If you’re in a car and worried about the way someone is driving and want to get out, say “I’m going to throw up!’ and watch how quickly they stop,” he says.

South Australia Police offer a range of road safety sessions for preschoolers through to older road users via the Road Safety Centre. Sessions are free and designed to provide lifelong education to the community.

The Term 4 edition of School News is out now. Read it online HERE