Thesis Report An Educational Campaign on ROAD SAFETY

Submitted by Mohsina Tariq Communication design

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction Background: Road Safety in Pakistan Aims and Objectives Client Target areas: Concept Concept Model Nature of the Campaign: Strategy Approach Design elements: Items Bibliography

Acknowledgements: I would gratefully acknowledge my thesis advisor Sir Nadeem Bashir and Sir Amir Hashmi for helping me to choose a topical theme which is of very great relevance to human life. They have been source of guidance and encouragement through out the enacting and yet most exciting exercise. My special thanks to Mr. Ahmad Naseem Inspector general Motorway Police and Dr. Waseem Kausar Deputy Inspector general National Highway Police for there persuade and consistent support and clarifying a lot of critical issues which were unknown. Last but not the least my deep gratitude to my father who has been a source of strength , encouragement and support.

Introduction
Drive towards human safety is one of the major social movements of the new millennium. Causality on road is a phenomenon that occurs quite frequently in small increments and unfortunately, we as members of the society, have learnt to accept it. These incidents lead to enormous emotional and economic consequences, imposing high economic and social costs to the society. Pakistan is no exception. These costs are in the shape of loss of earning capacity, damage to physical assets, loss of wellbeing, and expenditure on medical care. As citizens of this country it is our duty to emphasize and create awareness among ourselves to avoid incidents that lead to such catastrophic consequences. The objective of this paper is to design an educational campaign concerning awareness of road safety in Pakistan.

Background:
Universal data on the road accidents provides us with extremely useful information to assess and evaluate the nature and dimension of the problem from hosts of angles. It also provides us opportunity to explore various practical options to mitigate the enormity of this grim and grave problem. According to the information contained in the World Bank website, more than 1.17 million die every year in road accidents around the world. About 70% of these deaths occur in developing countries. Over 10 million are injured or crippled each year. Taking into account recent decline in fatality rate, the study estimates that at least 6 million more people will die and 60 million more injures will take place in developing countries by the year 2010. The World Bank also estimates that the road accidents cost approximately 1% to 3% of a countrys gross domestic product (G.D.P) (http://www.worldbank.org). As noted earlier, road accidents significantly inhibit economic and social development of a country. They are associated with

Road Safety in Pakistan: An Overview Fatality rate in Pakistan is significantly higher in comparison to developed and developing countries. The situation will further worsen in the future with increased motorization. According to an estimate, fatalities in Pakistan will grow to 14, 4000 by 2010. Thus, each day we will witness 40 fatalities compared to present estimate of 20 deaths per day. Further, with 1500 injuries and disabilities a year, and rising, the associated financial losses will be significantly higher than their present level of around US$ 1000 million a year. In Pakistan road safety, as part of the practice, is yet to take firm roots. There is a vague understanding of this issue., which is not well focused either and has not taken its proper place in the code of etiquette. This is evident from the increased number of accidents every year. The first and foremost step in tackling any road safety issue is to create awareness amongst the public and the policy makers. Though in recent years a number of awareness campaigns have been designed to educate people on the road safety issues, the fatality rate has been increasing with the passage of time, primarily because these campaigns have not been effective or enforcing. There is a need to design a campaign, which is more productive in terms of educating general road users. This is indeed a challenging situation for the policy planners and those who are assigned with the enforcement in this area. This study not only highlights the issue of road safety but also offers provide practical solutions to affectively attended this problem.. While there has been a number of efforts in the past to tackle this issue but the results have been far from satisfactory.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:

The major aims and objectives of the project are as follows:

Increase Awareness level

The key objective of this campaign is to create awareness among the general public about the importance of road safety. A change in the mindset cannot be expected if

one is not fully aware of the importance of the issue. The users need to be well informed of the fact that road safety is crucial to avoid all those mishaps and accidents that happen every day on the road. Education on the practice

The campaign aims to educate people about the best road safety practices and elicit most favorable responses to meet the campaign objectives. Once the awareness of the issue is created, the next step moving forward is to educate them to deal with the issue. Sustained education effort in the campaign will inculcate deeply in the road users and the elementary rules of safety, that they become attitude and habit.

Strong response

Its going to be a result-oriented campaign, targeting the key audience in a manner that produces instant and strong response. The target audience has to be fully twined with the importance of the issue to create a full impact.

Underscoring the cross cutting nature of the issue

The road safety issue carries a wide range of stakeholders requiring different messages. Therefore, the aim is to underscore the crosscutting nature of the issue keeping in view the close coordination. It is extremely important to understand the role of stakeholders in this campaign and to tackle them in an objective fashion. Visual consonance

The campaign will be designed in a way that it will create visual consonance and harmony on the road (no element of distraction) .So everyone involved is not only on the same track but understands fully the message being conveyed.

CLIENT:
Potential clients of the campaign will be Government of Punjab National Highways, Motorway Pakistan Police, and the provincial Traffic Police.

Target areas:
The targeted audience is the one who is on roads. Specifically young, Unlicensed, suspended, revoked drivers. Furthermore, the campaign will target older aged, aggressive, careless, distracted/fatigued, and speedy drivers. The campaign will also emphasize the role of pedestrians, bicyclists, and special users in addressing this issue. . .

Concept:
In the backdrop of above discussion, a concept for the campaign is designed based upon four major parameters impacting the issue of road safety, which include: Precaution Alert Senses Carefulness Preciousness of human life

The proposed campaign is an outcome of rigorous research based upon above four road safety factors. These factors will figure out very prominently through the campaign. Precaution Precaution; eliminate risk factor and be on a safety curve right from the outset. It is better than cure, something doing after the event when the things may not be ideally lined up for various reasons at times beyond our resources. Before taking control of the steering wheel, one can take all precautionary measures to secure the risk factor of having any road safety issue. A close look at the mechanical fitness of the vehicles, oiling, water, and properly fastened seat belts are some of the elements to address the risk factor well on the journey.

Alert Senses This area signifies the critical importance of human element and highlights how important are the senses and the need to synch them with the mechanical operations of the vehicle. If the senses are completely alive with instant reflexes the chances of unwanted mishaps are minimal. It is critical to have a perfect interplay of senses i.e. the 7

involvement of mind, grip on the steering, keen eyes on the road, front, left, right and in the rear through the mirror.

Carefulness Alive senses need a careful backup to address the risk factors. For instance, over speeding and use of mobile phones need to be avoided. Abundant care has to be taken on all pedestrian crossings; public places and road Sinology should work as an essential input in the driving stream to make the drive safe and certain for every one around Preciousness of life The above three parameters for the road safety are organically linked together and underline the importance as how precious is the human life. In this organic whole if any element is missing the safety factor will be lessened. This whole continuum with wellknitted links forms the key concept for better road safety.

Concept Model:
Keeping in view the above parameters, a concept model is designed for the campaign. A road maze is planned in which one has to take a ball from the preliminary point till the end spot. There are different barriers and holes in it and ones wrong move or lack of alert senses might risk the game and they will have to start the game from the beginning. Imagine the ball as your vehicle and the person playing as a driver. The circular form of the game is taken from the mandatory signs. All the road signs used in the maze are also for safety indication. The red color of the road sign and the yellow and black colors from side walks are used as design elements which have there own meaning to it. While one is playing the game full concentration, alert senses and carefulness is needed and if there is anything missing, the ball will fall into the hole and one can have the sagacity of the preciousness of life.

Nature of the Campaign:

The nature of the campaign is educational in character, aiming at raising the sensitivity level of the public in general and the road user in particular towards the intensity of the

road safety issue. The target area has been the National Highway Network, which shares eighty percent of the freight and 90% of the passenger load.

Strategy;
The campaign is Strategized into three phases Awareness Education

The first parameter, i.e., awareness, underscores the intensity of the issue. The second key element, education underlines ways and means as how to cope with the problem with all complexities. The third area deals with the response by the audience, which directly corresponds to the effectiveness of the first two elements.

Approach:
Since audience of the campaign is moving and not static so the registration time or span of attention is relatively less. Therefore, to approach this limited span of attention share size billboards form an effective medium. The horizontal size of the billboards and the contrasting colors is again part of strategy, which leaves a deep impression even when the object is not there. Monitoring of the campaign will be an integral part of the above strategy. After every six months a critical appraisal of the approach will be undertaken with a view to refine the campaign and add more useful elements. The campaign is of a permanent character passing through different cycles, each one setting pace to the next one. Each cycle signifies certain set of issues requiring recognition and response. While the sites are earmarked, the campaign content would vary on the phase of the campaign. Thus sites have a high degree of visual appeal i.e. turning points, toll plazas, interchanges, and overhead bridges etc.

Design elements:
The colors, the layouts, and the visual is in consonance and harmony; making every thing so compose that there is clarity in message and sharp focus on the issue. The copies have been carefully chosen. A rich mixture of black and yellow color is being used; representing sharp contrast that vividly brings out the content of the message, which is quite telling and clear. The use of tyre tracks with a lot of facility as these are the most common features of every vehicle regardless of specifications from alto Suzuki or a multi axle loaded truck. These tracks continue to remain the constant feature. The type face IMPACT has carefully used to make the message bold and effective and direct. Transport type face is used in booklets and relative text material which is already used in road sinology and signs.

ITEMS BILLBOARDS The theme communicated through the billboards is to create awareness among the masses. It is an instant message appealing to the senses .The constant thought that is reminded of is the preciousness of life. Six billboards have been designed 3 aiming at the awareness that how intense the issue is and rest are to educate people on how to deal with the issue. GUIDEBOOK It is yet another design item containing useful and handy information and the basic data base which is quite often required during an emergency. BOOKLET This is the most critical component, which a vehicle user must have. A complete familiarity with the Sinology makes traveling hassle free.

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LEAFLETS This is the distributive material and effective tool to spread around information so that people seep in with each passing day and become more cautious of the road safety issues. These leaflets are distributed at the guidance center and toll plaza ROAD TRACK CD Traveling is a monotonous exercise unless it is interspersed with some healthy and conducive music and non-distracting. A road track CD is designed to make a long distance a matter of pleasure and joy. English CDs will be followed by Urdu, Punjabi and Pashto CDs.

TICKET: This design item is constant reminder of safety messages. EDUCATIONAL TOY: These are designed for kids basic minimalist learning. DISPLAY RACK: They are proposed for Cmarts at the gas stations and road site kiosks. So the design item like CDs, guide books are available to the road users. SOUVIENIERS: They are an effective medium for communicating. Hanging souvenir with the rare mirror displaying prayer during travel and safety message which are being intelligently designed with a great deal of spontaneity.

Bibliography:
File://H\roadsigns.htm www.nhmp.com www.think.com www.worldbank.com www.traffic.gov.com

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