Evaluation of Two Second Mistake campaign

Beginning in November 2012, the Bedfordshire and Luton Casualty Reduction Partnership in conjunction with the Cambridge and Peterborough Road Safety Partnership delivered a campaign to promote the message that even a two second glance away from the road while driving can result in serious consequences. The principal aim of the campaign was to reduce the number of young people involved in vehicle collisions with distractions as a contributory factor.

This was achieved through a two‐stage process. First, the ‘Two Second Mistake’ message was delivered via an interactive advertisement in cinemas in Luton and Huntingdon in November 2012, to a total audience of 302 young people, (aged between 17 and 24 years old). The second stage was to deliver the ‘Two Second Mistake’ message to a mass audience through a viral campaign on YouTube, lasting 2 minutes 36 long. The first 1 minute and 54 seconds focuses on an interactive story where a driver makes a mistake in a couple of seconds. The remaining time highlights the consequences of this mistake.

This report highlights the findings of the evaluation of the ‘Two Second Mistake’ campaign.

Key findings
• Future ‘Two Second Mistake’ campaigns should remain in their current format. For consideration before conducting a similar campaign in the future:
• Increase exposure by using a number of social networking sites to promote the online video.
• Advertise the campaign via multiple websites (for example, in colleges and on university web pages) aimed specifically at both novice drivers and drivers and passengers in the 17 to 24 age group.