If you’re guilty of walking along the road checking your phone or dashing in front of traffic to get to the other side of the road, then North Sydney Council is hoping their brand new road safety campaign will grab your attention…
North Sydney Council has launched a hilarious pedestrian road safety awareness campaign using the power of a tongue-in-cheek power-ballad and rap song… and we love it!
They’re calling upon people to stop, breathe and ‘Take A Look Around’ before you step out into the road and “end up dead”.
The video’s power-ballad guy and feisty rapper girl explain some key points – “cross at a crossing”, “green means go”, red means stop”.
Mayor Jilly Gibson said: “Council’s new pedestrian road safety awareness campaign uses humour and music to convey a very serious message – to Look Around and stop taking unnecessary risks on the roads. As the song lyrics attest, North Sydney is great place to live and work, and we want people to stop looking at their phones and stop taking risks out on our busy roads. We want them to look around, to enjoy their beautiful surroundings, and to stay safe. This is the only ‘hit’ we want to see in North Sydney! We hope the lyrics will resonate with people and the catchy chorus will get people to stop and Look Around before stepping out in the road. It doesn’t matter how old or young you are, as the video says, you all matter and it’s so important to take care when crossing roads.”
North Sydney Council Road Safety Coordinator, Stella Stefan, said: “There’s been an increase in dangerous behaviour on North Sydney’s road with pedestrians looking at their phones while crossing, commuters crossing randomly on major roads, drivers not looking where they are going and people spilling off the curb and onto the street. This has resulted in many crashes causing serious injuries and several fatalities and is the reason behind why we needed to come up with a unique public safety campaign that everyone will remember!”
So watch the video below, and then click here to go in the running to win a new iPad Mini 4!
Road Safety Facts
In North Sydney between 2013-2017:
- There were four pedestrian fatalities
- 17-49 year-olds represented over 61% of all pedestrian casualties
- The highest percentage of all pedestrian casualties were represented by the 30-39-year age category (20%)
- Females represented almost 68% of all casualties
- 48% of all pedestrian casualties were seriously injured
Source: Transport for NSW, Centre for Road Safety
