Gruesome image to hit drivers in the face

By ELIZABETH BINNING

The sight of a schoolgirl's bloodied head smashed against a cracked windscreen is about to become a horrific reality for hundreds of motorists.

A poster with a graphic image and the words "Please don't speed near schools" will be placed on hundreds of windscreens to try to make Waikato motorists slow down.

The campaign, organised by Environment Waikato and due to start next week, is supported by police and the Land Transport Safety Authority, which has just moved away from 10 years of "blood and gore" advertising. However, the campaign is being criticised by other organisations which say such a gruesome and detailed image should not be left where young children can see it.

Campaign promoter Barnaby Bates said the computer-generated image was "slightly brutal" but not meant to offend.

The aim was to get motorists to think about the effects of speed as they got into the car instead of seeing the image at work or home and forgetting about it by the time they got behind the wheel again.

Figures from the LTSA show that 12 pedestrians under the age of 15 were killed and 314 injured by cars in 2002.

Mr Bates said Waikato motorists needed to realise the importance of keeping to the speed limit.

"People need to bear in mind that 50 is 50, not 60."

"If you hit a child at 60km/h they only have a 3 per cent survival rate, while at 40km/h that improves to 80 per cent."

Victim Support chief executive Steve Caldwell said speeding did need to be stopped but the image used in the campaign was tasteless.

He said it had the potential to revictimise people who had lost a child or another loved one or been in an accident themselves.

"We would like to see those kinds of images not portraying the victim in that real close-up and degrading way.

"I think there are better ways to get your message across which don't involve portraying people in those sort of positions."

Hamilton's Fraser High School principal, Martin Elliott, said speeding motorists were definitely a problem near schools but he was not convinced a graphic poster campaign was the right way to deal with it.

"I am sure parents of primary aged kids would be horrified if their 5-year-old got in the car to be confronted by that picture."

Waikato road policing manager Inspector Leo Tooman said the picture was gory but that was the reality of speeding. He had no problem using the graphic image if it shocked motorists into slowing down.

"If you can keep your speed down then you are going to reduce injury, that's what it is all about.

"The crash may still possibly occur but if the speed is down then you are going to cause less injury and deaths are reduced.

"I think the posters are very very effective."

LTSA spokesman Andy Knackstedt said it was up to local authorities to decide on the approach they felt was best suited to addressing local issues.

LTSA will review the effectiveness of the campaign, which will be accompanied by full-page advertisements in community and regional newspapers.