New Road Safety Adverts Could Cause Increase In Personal Injury Claims

If you have turned on the television or the radio recently, you may well have seen a new advert that is sending shockwaves around Britain, and serves as a reminder of the dangers of speeding on Britain’s roads. It draws particular attention to the victims of dangerous driving.

Some observers are hoping that the advert will result in those injured as a result of dangerous driving having fewer inhibitions when it comes to making personal injury claims, as they will understand that claiming for compensation will allow them a swifter recovery and function to alert those who regularly break the speed limit that endangering other peoples’ lives through speeding is not acceptable.

The television advert depicts a driver who killed a child in a road accident and can no longer live his life normally without feeling guilt for their actions. It shows the driver seeing the body of the child he has killed in various places, including by the side of a road when sat on the bus, on the grass when walking in the park with his son, and by the side of his bed when trying to sleep.

The radio advert tells a similar story, in which children’s voices take the role of narrating the life of the driver who killed them a number of years before by speeding. Similarly to the television advert, the driver cannot participate in activities such as watch a football match, spend time with their own children, or even sleep. The message in both adverts is that there are no reasons that can possibly be good enough for speeding as you are endangering the lives of others, and it can even lead to killing someone. The drivers in the adverts are shown to be tormented for the rest of their lives by what they have done.

The adverts come as part of the THINK! campaign, launched by Jim Fitzpatrick, who is the Road Safety Minister. The advertising, upon which £3.2 million has been spent, is spread over various mediums, including the cinema and online advertising too. The tag line for the adverts is ‘Kill your speed, or live with it.’ It comes on the back of another THINK! campaign that highlighted the shocking difference between the chances of a child living after being hit by a car at 30mph and the chances of a child living after being hit by a car at 40mph.

The new adverts, however, are not simply aimed at those who drive dangerously by speeding. Some commentators have voiced the opinion that the adverts will hopefully draw attention to the victims of road traffic accidents. Furthermore, it is hoped that more victims will acknowledge that, when an accident is not their fault, claiming for compensation will help to ensure that the driver at fault will be far less likely to drive dangerously again. Not only this, but, especially in relation to the adverts, they will realise it could have been much worse. Both these adverts and personal injury claims of this sort also deter other drivers from speeding and driving dangerously.

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