DOE takes road safety message online to boy racers

Virtual boy racers are being reminded of the harsh reality of reckless driving on real roads in a pioneering DOE online advertising campaign.

Environment Minister Sammy Wilson today welcomed the DOE’s ground-breaking road safety campaign aimed at the online gamers who use Xbox Live.

Road safety messages are currently being seen by gamers, mostly young adult males, while they are playing racing and sporting games.

Mr Wilson said: “My Department is always looking for innovative ways of getting the road safety message across to all sections of society and this initiative will enable us to target the group most at risk on Northern Ireland roads.

“Young men, especially those who love playing these games, need to be aware there is a big difference between the virtual world and real life where there is no restart button.

“There are no second chances in real life. Unlike the virtual world, if you crash a speeding car or take risks on the road it really will be ‘game over’.”

Gaming is one of the fastest growing global entertainment forms and presents unique opportunities for targeting messages at hard to reach consumers – specifically young adult males.

Latest developments in video game hardware and software deliver truly unique, ultra-immersive entertainment experiences.

The X-Box campaign is intended to reduce road deaths in the 17–24 year old age group.

Research shows that most at risk on our roads are the 17-24 year olds and a quarter of those have access to an Xbox 360 and are more than twice as likely to play online games than the average population.

DOE’s online adverts will run over Christmas and throughout January on a number of X-Box Live games – ‘Project Gotham Racing’, the ‘Need for Speed’ series, ‘MX vs ATV Untamed’, ‘Trackmania United’, ‘Toca Race Driver’, ‘Juiced’, ‘Pro-Evolution Soccer’, ‘Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground’, ‘Top Spin’ and ‘Skate’.

Over Christmas and the New Year period, this in-game advertising will deliver a total of 320,000 road safety messages directly to a core target audience at a point where they are emotionally engaged with content which promotes dangerous road user behaviour. The advertisements will only be viewed by gamers in Northern Ireland.

Notes to Editors:

1. Research shows that 17-24 year old males are the most at risk on our roads.
2. The Xbox Live advertising campaign will deliver a total of 320,000 road safety impacts directly to the core target audience.
3. One Quarter of young men (17-24) in Northern Ireland own an Xbox 360 or have access to one in the home. As an audience they are almost three times more likely to own a console and they are more than twice as likely to play online games regularly compared to the population average.
4. This advertising activity will run from December 2008 – January 2009.
5. For media enquiries please contact DOE Press Office tel. 028 9054 0014 or out of office hours, contact EIS Duty Press Officer on pager 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.