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Road Safety Week 2015

Evaluation Report

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The headlines

Over 7,500 schools and community groups registered to take part

Information on 242 confirmed activities were collected afterwards

Print coverage reached a potential audience of over 32 million

Broadcast coverage reached a potential audience of 20 million

Brake tweets reached a potential audience of over two million

15,817 visits to roadsafetyweek.org.uk during November

34,897 visits to Brake.org.uk during November – most ever in a month

Summary

Road Safety Week 2015 took place 23-29 November, coordinated by Brake, the road safety charity, with

headline sponsorship from AIG and Specsavers, grant funding from the Department for Transport, and the

involvement of thousands of schools, organisations and communities. This year’s theme was new for the

charity as it focussed on the links between sustainability, health and road safety, and how the amount that

people drive is central across these topics. Using the theme 'drive less, live more' we made road safety a

personal issue for everyone by

highlighting the damage caused by

over-use of cars to individuals’

health and wellbeing (whether they

are pedestrians, cyclists or drivers)

and the entire planet.

One of the main aims of the Week is

public-awareness raising, as this is

key when it comes to road safety,

and we engaged as widely as

possible by making our message

relevant to as many different groups of people as possible. We encouraged everyone to consider how they

use roads, and asked drivers if they could ditch some mileage, by walking, cycling or using public transport

as much as possible instead. As well as the safety improvements that would come from fewer cars on the

roads we emphasised the practical benefits to both individuals and the planet of this approach e.g. how

much money you'll save, how many calories you'll burn, and how much pollution you won't create. Our

theme, despite being planned well in advance, tapped in perfectly to one of the biggest public concerns of

the year, coming just weeks after the VW emissions scandal hit the headlines across the world.

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A major innovation in this year’s RSW campaign was an interactive online map, giving people targeted

information about emissions, pollution and inactivity in their area. The figures highlighted deaths caused by

air pollution in every council borough in the UK (bar Northern Ireland), and also showed the level of

inactivity that everyone has in their daily lives through not being active enough. This was used by

members of the public and journalists, giving press coverage of the week more traction.

The inclusive nature of this year’s theme meant it worked well from a school, company and community

engagement perspective, plus we had 59 police forces sign up to be involved. The more traditional road

safety angles were also covered by the message that if you do drive, do so slowly and smoothly, and ‘GO

20’ in cities, towns and villages, to protect people on foot and bike and reduce fuel use/emissions too.

As well as highlighting just how vital sustainable transport options are for individuals and the planet,

RSW15 built on previous years’ themes of our streets being safe for every road user so we can all enjoy

and feel safe travelling around our towns, cities and countryside, making happier and healthier citizens. By

focussing on the links between road safety and health we were able to extend the road safety debate into

the realm of social policy, especially public health, adding weight to our work, cause and arguments.

The theme ’drive less, live more’was brought to life through four media launch events across the UK –

Bristol, Glasgow, York and a national launch at Horse Guards Parade, London – with activities that

helped us communicate the campaign messages in a positive and engaging way.

Thanks to widespread marketing, community involvement continues to be at the heart of the event.

Marketing this year included e-cascades to all registrations from 2014, articles in our various bulletins for

members of the public, educators and professionals (c. 21,000 subscribers), 12 marketing press releases

to key specialist media, regular posts on our increasingly popular social media accounts (c.18,000

followers) and enlisting the help of 51 partner organisations in promoting RSW.

Emergency services, local authorities, schools, youth groups, and organisations took advantage of the

Week to raise awareness of road safety locally, by running campaigns, roadshows, workshops,

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demonstrations and giveaways. Over 7,500 organisations and communities registered to take part in

RSW15 via an online form, stating what activities they were planning. Since the event, we have so far (to

12 January) collected feedback and information on 242 activities that took place at grassroots level during

the Week. Some case studies can be viewed here.

To support involvement, Brake made improvements and updates to its dedicated Road Safety Week site,

which received an average of 8,583 unique visitors per month September-November, and sent e-action

packs to all those who registered. These included downloadable road safety posters and web adverts on

the theme, and guidance on organising effective activities as in previous years. Plus for the first time

Brake produced and included an interactive e-learning resource promoting the key ‘drive less, live

more’ messages. Brake also produced two additional resources to aid specific engagement activities:

a tool for employers to assess their travel planning and identify areas of opportunity for improvement and a

sheet to help organisations plan car-free days. Brake also issued monthly countdown bulletins to

registered participants with ideas, tips and case studies to encourage active participation.

Media campaign

Brake’s RSW15 media campaign was hugely successful, reaching millions with crucial road safety

messages. Brake issued bespoke releases for each of the 12 main media regions, plus a national news

release and specialist releases, promoting the campaign’s messages. These were issued and sold-in to

media intensively ahead of the week, to generate interest, set up interviews for Brake staff, arrange filming

opportunities, and secure attendance at launch events.

The news story: Brake obtained statistics revealing the extent of deaths caused by air pollution, levels of

CO2 emissions, and levels of inactivity around the UK. Together with road casualty statistics, this helped

us build a picture by region and locality of the damage caused by motor vehicle traffic to include in our

regional media releases. PhD candidate Matt Whittle, University of Leeds, created a bespoke interactive

online map on Brake’s behalf (at no charge), showing these statistics for every local authority area, which

was promoted through the media and on our websites and social media. Alongside this, a survey of 1,000

people was undertaken to find out about their level of car use and see what would persuade them to use

their cars less frequently. Read the national release here.

Supporting the media campaign, a range of public affairs activities took place, including a photo

opportunity with the co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group, Ruth Cadbury MP, who proudly

wore the Road Safety Week t-shirt, and participated at the national launch event. An early day motion

highlighting the RSW campaign was signed by 15 MPs.

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Brake’s four media launches involved photocalls and filming opportunities organised by Brake in the run

up to the Week, in partnership with various organisations and local authorities. The launches were

attended and run by Brake staff, with Brake staff also available to give remote interviews for other regions

from studios. The launches were all held outdoors, involving members of the public.

Green footprints highlighting all the

aspects of this year’s Week and

the ’drive less, live more‘ theme

were produced, given out and then

held up by people for photos, to

promote the benefits of the ‘drive

less, live more’ message.

Road safety practitioners, including police, fire and local authority officers, once again played a key role

in the launches, running demonstrations and activities. The Metropolitan Police’s Exchanging Places

scheme was used at the national launch in London, encouraging road users to take a different perspective

and put themselves in each other’s shoes. These events allow people to sit in the driver's seat of an HGV

or bus to get a better understanding of what the driver can and can’t see, especially with regard to cyclists

on the nearside and directly in front of the vehicle.

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RSW15 media launch example – Bristol: Brake launched Road Safety Week in Bristol by celebrating

walking, cycling and slower driving with children and parents at Bridge Learning Campus and New

Fosseway SEN School. The charity teamed up with Bristol City Council, Sustrans, Living Streets,

Bikeability and Bristol’s Better at 20 to encourage active travel. We ran a series of events in the school

playground at the start of the school day, including 20mph-themed games, bike workshops and healthy

breakfasts to reward those children who walked or cycled to school. A team of children became a film crew

for the morning, interviewing adults about how they travelled to school and their views on traffic speeds.

The event secured both print and TV coverage, as well as lots of discussion on social media.

Brake recognises that securing UK-wide media coverage is critical to the success of the Week and

conveying its messages as widely as possible to the public. Brake and partners achieved the following

coverage that specifically referenced Road Safety Week:

27 items of national coverage:

27 press and online articles (including BBC News online, Daily

Express, Daily Mirror, ITV.com, Mail on Sunday, Metro, the

Guardian and The Times)

1248 items of regional and local media coverage:

Six TV (largely covering those areas that held media launches)

16 radio (comprehensive regional coverage on both BBC and independent stations, from BBC

London, BBC Scotland and BBC Wales, to 15 Heart FM regions)

801 press and online articles (including major publications such as the London Evening Standard,

Manchester Evening News, The Scotsman, Daily Record, Northern Echo, Wales Online, and

Yorkshire Post)

90 items of specialist, trade and consumer coverage:

90 press and online articles (including BT.com, Cycling Weekly, Fleet News, Primary Times and

Road.cc)

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The above figures include coverage in advance of the Week, marketing it to key audiences, which

included 64 items of coverage in regional, specialist, trade and consumer press.

During November and December, Road Safety Week accounted for the overwhelming majority of Brake’s

media coverage and Brake reached a potential audience of over 32.5 million people in print media alone,

with an AVE of £751,327. Online media coverage reached a potential audience of around 146 million

globally in the same period as national publications such as Mail Online, BBC, Mirror Online, the Guardian

and AOL Cars all picked up stories on Road Safety Week.

Broadcast coverage during the Week itself reached a potential audience of around five million through

local and regional radio, with an AVE of £41,000. For regional television broadcasts, coverage reached a

potential audience of around fifteen million, with an AVE of £44,700.

It is worth noting that compared to 2014, RSW15 saw increased online coverage due to coverage from

national and international publications. Thanks to this, the potential online coverage both nationally and

internationally grew over ten fold.

Social media

In addition to traditional media coverage, Brake

significantly increased its social media activity in

RSW15, on Twitter and Facebook. Brake’s Twitter

following increased by over 500 during the Week,

with the total now at over 12,400. Brake tweeted

on 444 occasions in the run up to, and during, the

Week. This led to over 15,300 people viewing Brake’s Twitter profile, compared to only 8,332 last year.

The most popular tweet, on 23 November, was re-tweeted 48 times, and seen by around 8,500 people.

Brake ranked number three in the Health and Safety Top 500, a leader board recognising the most active

Twitter users involved in health and safety.

#RoadSafetyWeek was used more than 6,700

times during Road Safety Week itself, peaking at

approximately 2,200 retweets and 1,200 unique

tweets on the Monday of the Week.

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#DriveLessLiveMore was used more than

2,100 times in Road Safety Week, with a peak

of approximately 1,100 uses on the Monday.

For the second year running, one of the tools we used to help

launch Road Safety Week was a Thunderclap.

This surpassed its target by 102%, reaching 775,432 people.

Thanks to an upgrade from Twitter

analytics, we can now see how many

of Brake’s tweets were seen during

Road Safety Week. The majority were

seen by over 2,000 people with an

average engagement rate of 1.3%

during the Week.

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Community engagement

Through partnership working, Road Safety Week inspires thousands across the UK to devote personal

and professional time to activities raising awareness of key road safety issues.

Carrying out email and online marketing, maintaining and

developing the Road Safety Week website as an information

hub, and distributing free resources encourages schools,

organisations and community groups to get involved in the

Week at little to no cost, other than time invested.

Brake began marketing Road Safety Week 2015 almost as

soon as last year’s Week was over; issuing e-cascades and press releases announcing the date and

theme. This marketing continued throughout the year, with promotional e-cascades sent to the 9,661

registrations from 2014, numerous articles in each of our various bulletins for members of the public (c. 8k

subscribers), educators, nurseries and

youth workers (c. 4.5k subscribers) and

professionals (c. 3.5k subscribers), plus a

series of 10 marketing press releases

targeting specialist/trade media, and links,

articles and promotions set up with 45 partner organisations. Brake also developed search engine

optimisation for the Road Safety Week site and used charity Google ads to promote the Week.

This marketing encourages involvement from both those working in the road safety field and others keen

to promote road safety, directs people to the Road Safety Week website, and encourages them to register

to get their free e-action pack. The impact of marketing is clear from the surge in traffic to the Road Safety

Week website in the run-up, with 39,601 unique visitors over the course of the year to date (1 April 2015 –

11 Jan 2016), 65% of which were in September-November. During these months, there were on average

8,582 unique visitors per month.

Community engagement in the Week continued to be a major

contribution to the success of the event, with over 7,500

registrations this year. This is down by around a quarter from

registrations in 2014, although it is worth bearing in mind that

2014 was a record year. All these registrations came through

the dedicated Road Safety Week site, which includes a range

of information and ideas to inspire key groups to get involved.

All those who registered were sent e-action packs with

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downloadable road safety posters and web adverts, guidance on organising effective activities, and

Brake’s newly revised and extended guide to teaching road safety.

Brake also issued six monthly countdown bulletins to registered participants with ideas, tips and case

studies to encourage active participation, and ran a webinar for road safety and company professionals in

September to offer guidance and ideas on utilising the theme and running successful activities. The

webinar was attended by 75 delegates and viewed 131 times online.

Local authority road safety teams, emergency services and road safety partnerships continued to use the

Week as a hook for boosting involvement in and achieving publicity for year-round work. The focus given

by the Week can provide new opportunities for partnership-working and outreach, giving organisations a

chance to engage key audiences through the excitement of participating in a national event. Many local

agencies team up to pool resources and maximise impact.

Many get involved every year, recognising the Week as an important feature in their calendar. Emergency

services seem to especially value the Week as an opportunity to raise awareness and boost engagement,

and Brake was pleased to again work with ACPO, CFOA and Road Safety GB to promote involvement.

Brake was pleased to see that many participating organisations took on board and promoted the ‘drive

less, live more’ message.

Over 7,500 planned community involvement activities were reported to Brake in advance of the

Week via the registration form on the Road Safety Week website. These break down as follows:

4,363 educators registered, of which (numbers overlap):

2,942 were planning to run road safety assemblies

2,702 were integrating road safety into the curriculum

1,517 were planning on running a Beep Beep! Day event

478 were planning on running a Bright Day awareness-raising fundraiser

370 were planning on holding an open event for parents or their local communities

2,730 were making a road safety display in their school

2,628 were promoting road safety in their newsletter or a mailing to parents

433 were running a campaign calling for safer streets and driving in their community

2,266 were planning to challenge children to create a road safety poster, film or play

1,568 were inviting a road safety professional to deliver a talk about road safety

689 were running practical roadside pedestrian or cycle training with help from their local authority

167 were planning on fundraising for Brake in some way

768 community groups and volunteers registered, of which (numbers overlap):

324 were planning to promote Road Safety Week online or by email

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227 were planning an event, stand or roadshow

186 were making a Road Safety Week display, for

example in a supermarket, library or shopping centre

351 were planning on running road safety initiatives

with local schools or clubs

232 were running publicity activities promoting safer

road use, such as displaying posters, handing out

flyers, or including info in a newsletter

36 were planning on sponsoring a Road Safety Week

banner

122 were planning to engage local media

83 were planning a local campaign

32 were planning fundraising activities

517 road safety professionals, including emergency services, driving instructors and local

authority road safety teams registered, of which (numbers overlap):

59 police forces were planning to carry out heightened enforcement activities

242 were running a road safety awareness event, roadshow or open day

271 were delivering road safety training or educational activities

282 were working in partnership with schools or community groups

11 were planning on attending a Pledge course run by Brake

14 were planning on running Pledge workshops with young people

133 were engaging local media in their activities

87 were running a road safety enforcement campaign

286 were promoting Road Safety Week online

240 were running road safety publicity activities, such as displaying posters or issuing communications

182 were making a road safety display in a reception area or public venue

19 were planning on sponsoring a Road Safety Week banner

13 were planning fundraising activities

631 companies and organisations registered, of which (numbers overlap):

200 wanted more information about ways they could partner with Brake

178 were launching a new road safety initiative or campaign

297 were planning an educational or training session to promote safe driving to employees

293 were promoting Road Safety Week to their partners and customers

451 were promoting Road Safety Week to staff through internal communications

234 were promoting Road Safety Week on their website or via social media

351 were putting up a road safety display in their office, foyer or depot

30 were planning on sponsoring a Road Safety Week banner

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115 were working with local educators or community groups on a road safety initiative

87 were planning on setting up a road safety display in their community

73 were planning a local campaign

64 were planning on running a Bright Day fundraiser

21 were running a fundraiser for Brake

After Road Safety Week, Brake collected information on school, community and company involvement

initiatives. While it is not possible to measure precisely levels of engagement in the Week because of its

nature, Brake is pleased to continue to be able to collect significant levels of feedback, and is committed to

encouraging as many participants as possible to do so. We expect the number of confirmed activities to

continue to rise in the next month.

Examples of community and organisational activities that took place are available here.

After the Week, Brake issued a short feedback survey to those who registered. This asked for views on

materials provided and how activities went. Feedback was extremely positive on the quality of resources,

information on the RSW website, and around getting involved again in future.

Organisations fed back that:

66% used the downloadable posters from the e-action pack; with 74% thinking they were

appropriate for the audience they worked with

69% used information and guidance from the action pack to inform and plan their activities

On average the action pack was rated eight out of 10

88% are planning to get involved in RSW again next year.

Educators fed back that:

74% used the downloadable posters from the e-action pack; with 78% thinking they were

appropriate for the audience they worked with

94% used information and guidance from the action pack to inform and plan their activities

On average the action pack was rated eight out of 10

86% are planning to get involved in RSW again next year.

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Looking forward to 2016

Brake has set the date for Road Safety Week 2016 – 21-27 November – a week suitable for school

involvement, and avoiding clashes with other activities as much as possible.

Our theme for 2016 will be built around the Brake Pledge. This is a simple, memorable, action-orientated

theme that we believe can be easily committed to by individuals and organisations alike. The feedback

that we received this year, and the previous year, urged us to revisit some core road safety issues. The

emergency services, in particular the police, were keen to have a greater involvement in 2016, and to be

able to take practical measures, both in terms of education and enforcement with drivers. The Pledge

comprises six, key pillars of wisdom:

Slow

Sober

Secure

Silent

Sharp

Sustainable

Together, or individually, these are specific actions that can be easily acted upon. We will be aiming for an

additional 10,000 Pledge commitments by the end of RSW.

Our initial intentions in delivering the 2016 Week include:

Produce materials to inform and incentivise commitment to the Pledge

Create an increased range of multimedia resources for distribution through the action packs and

use by participants

Continue to use our email marketing platform to provide high quality countdown bulletins and a

well-presented action pack, while directing participants to a wider range of guidance, information

and resources available on Brake’s and others’ websites

Encourage community involvement and participation in the campaign Brake delivers during the

Week, by providing ideas and materials in advance that communities can use to promote the

messages of this campaign, including

template press releases they can issue to

their local media highlighting their

involvement

Further solidify and tap into our growing

network of voluntary, community and

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education partners and marketing routes to engage an even wider audience

Maintain and develop key partnerships with trade/sector bodies that are critical in promoting

involvement in the Week to important audiences (e.g. the Association of Chief Police Officers and

Chief Fire Officers’ Association), engaging them early in the year to secure their commitment to

promoting participation in the event and ensuring participants have plenty of time to plan activities

Promote specific fundraising activities to key audiences that are relevant to the theme and include

an awareness-raising element

Develop the Week’s online presence and continue to aim to drive more traffic to the RSW site,

particularly by continuing work to develop SEO, reviewing sources of traffic and aiming to achieve

more coverage on important partner sites

Ensure the surge in traffic generated by media coverage is effectively captured, through engaging

visitors in the campaign, encouraging year-round engagement, and promoting the next year’s

event

Engaging partners to run public-engagement activities linked to their wider programmes, so these

support year-round local road safety work

Again seek to obtain and release data that can be broken down locally, and work with police to aim

to arrange an enforcement campaign, to add weight to the campaign and maximise impact

Ensure that we identify activities from partners that are visually engaging, with photo opportunities

that clearly demonstrate our message.

Continue developing the reach of the campaign on social media, such as possibly through

additional platforms, and stepping up engagement of partners with a strong presence.

Road Safety Week 2015 was coordinated by Brake, with headline sponsorship from AIG and Specsavers,

support from the Department for Transport, and the help and involvement of volunteers, schools, colleges,

nurseries, local authorities, emergency services and organisations across the UK.

A huge thank you to everyone involved, and who made Road Safety Week possible.