This Ridiculous Anti-Speeding Ad Takes Scare Tactics To Comically Extreme Levels

This incredible advert from Northern Ireland is the latest road safety campaign from the Department of the Environment. It graphically depicts the fact that the equivalent of a classroom of children have been killed on NI roads since 2000.

Now, we’re all for effective campaigns that make people aware of the dangers involved in speeding - this New Zealand ad is a brilliant example. Unfortunately this DOE campaign completely misses the mark. Check out the videos below and you’ll see that the DOE has a history of using scare tactics to get its point across, but the cheap CGI used is more successful at making you laugh.

As car guys, our first thoughts will turn to just how this guy lost the back end of his little front-wheel drive Vauxhall. Lift-off oversteer, perhaps? Then there is the incredible number of rolls that result from this accident, and the fact that we actually see the kids get squashed. With accompanying squishing sound effects.

While all of that is just a bit laughable, what’s most frustrating for me is the needlessly aggressive tone of the ad. The closing frames show an empty classroom with the text ‘Shame on You’ plastered across the screen, with the voiceover ‘you can never control the consequences if you speed.’ It seems ridiculous to comment on a complex issue in such a black and white manner.

So, Department of the Environment Road Safety team, if you could drop the scare tactics and needlessly belittling tone, you might just get our attention.

What do you think of these adverts?