For readers new to our website today, welcome! You picked an excellent day to pop by. At SNJ Associates, we are constantly searching, scanning, and reviewing an enormous amount of print, audio and online items regarding research news and information. For all the material that crosses our computer screens, desks and passes in conversation, this next update really resonated here at SNJ.

You’re about to read about one of our most passionate topics, child safety (when we’re not working on the SNJ material, we are knee deep in child safety topics at New Child Safety). Today the focus is on car-road safety.

When we first learned about this community level initiative from Australia through @AnnitaStephanou on Twitter regarding child car (road) safety called “The Life Saving” sticker campaign, we were very interested and intrigued. We just had to write an article today to share with everyone.

“The stickers put the human element to the potential situations we can find on the roads we travel each day.” ARSF Russell White

In Australia, an innovative, new approach to improving car (road) safety is being rolled out and gaining some keen interest from researchers, communities, and individuals alike.  The Australian Road Safety Foundation (ARSF) has begun a program that uses visual cues through child-size safety stickers that are placed on the side of the wheelie bins (garbage cans for North Americans). The stickers are designed and placed to remind drivers and cyclists about child road safety issues such as traveling at a slower speed limit and to be aware of the possibility of children in the road.

 “The ‘Life Saving’ sticker campaign is creative and holds real potential to impact road safety.” ARSF

At SNJ, we are particularly impressed that the program initiative involved individual people, across neighborhoods, who are directly participating and improving road safety through their actions. We believe that the interest or buy-in from members of the community or what we refer to in research as the ‘salience’ factor is an important piece of the ‘Life Saving’ sticker campaign. This initiative has real potential to make a difference by impacting the skills and habits of the drivers in these communities.

“We need to educate people to pick their eyes up and look further down the road and to be scanning the side of the road more.” ARSF

Among the feedback the ARSF has received, many comments from people refer to how the images of the children really impacted how they felt when looking at the stickers. A number of people are asking where they can get their stickers. Read more about ‘Life Saving’ initiative.  

At SNJ Associates, we are going to be watching how this initiative unfolds in the community and look forward to hearing about how the ARSF feels this project made a difference in Australia’s car (road) safety.