Alaska Statewide Highway Safety Media Campaign

First ride of the season, Fairbanks. Photo by Alexa Greene, Alaska DOT&PF

Snowmobiling at Hatcher Pass. Photo by Mike Morris, Alaska DOT&PF

Snowmobiling at Turnagin Pass. Photo by Mike Morris, Alaska DOT&PF

The Alaska Injury Prevention Center creates and displays television messages for an Alaskan Highway Safety Media Campaign throughout the State of Alaska. These messages are part of the projects listed in the Alaska Strategic Traffic Safety Plan. The media campaign regularly and effectively educates road users about projects such as designated safety corridors and to address specific driver behaviors, both dangerous behaviors and healthy behavior.

The ads are on a rotational basis with consideration of national enforcement events like Labor Day’s “Drink. Drive. Go to Jail” and Memorial Day’s "Click It Or Ticket”.

Other events like school graduation are also considered when creating the schedule. All ads run for a minimum of one year before being replaced with a new one.

Each targeted ad is displayed at the most effective time and day, and take into consideration  individual region or cities whenever possible. The AHSO Administrator suggests an aggressive schedule  for the placement of ads with local stations. For instance, if the majority of Anchorage teens watch “Gossip Girl”, then the AHSO wants them to see one of the ads during commercial breaks. If the majority of Alaskan  pedestrians watch “The Biggest Loser”, AHSO wants them to see one of our ads during their commercial  break. Each new Driver Behavior ad should raise the level of awareness AND increase the public’s level of education about the dangers of impaired, aggressive, and novice driving.

 

The Motorcycle Safety & Education Public Awareness Campaign

This campaign is designed to educate all Alaska roadway users of the importance of sharing the road and provide exposure to training opportunities available to riders of all skill levels.

April through May 2009: Statewide motorcycle awareness and safety message radio spots
May through August, 2009: Statewide motorcycle awareness and safety message television ads and public service announcements

May through September, 2009: motorcycle safety brochures and printed safety material available during events such as: “The 2009 Bike Blessing”, “The Annual Bike Show”, “The Gathering”, “The 2009 Break-up Run”, “2009 Hog Rally”, “4th of July Run 2009”, “2009 Freeze-up Run”.

Jun 6, 2009: The Forget Me Not Mission, INC. “Throttle Thunder Motorcycle Relay from Fairbanks to Kenai.  www.forgetmenotmission.com

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The Click It Or Ticket Media Campaign

The media campaign addresses seatbelt issues and increases the awareness of the two-year-old primary seatbelt law.  An Alaska State Trooper Visual Information Specialist (VIS) produces video, audio, and photographic advertisements and training materials to be used to spread the message of the Alaska Highway Safety Office. The goal of these publicity campaigns and the VIS are to raise awareness of Seatbelt enforcement by police agencies in Alaska and increase the percentage of Alaskans using their seatbelts. 

Objective #1 - Increase the awareness of the AST seatbelt advertisements by five percent.  This objective will be measured by the comparison of the rate of awareness measured by the surveys being currently being conducted under the FFY08 grant and surveys to be conducted under this grant.  The comparison will be made after the Labor Day 09 survey. 

Objective #2 - Increase the statewide seatbelt usage from 82.4% in 2007 to 85% in 2009.  This objective will be measured by the AHSO reporting of the seatbelt use before August 15, 2009. 

Objective #3 – Reduce percentage of unbelted fatalities in motor vehicle crashes from 39% in 2007 to 25% in 2009.

Objective #4 – Reduce number of unbelted motor vehicle occupants under 16 years of age to 1 in 2009.

 

The Impaired Driving Media Campaign

The media campaign addresses impaired driving issues and educate the public about the dangers of impaired driving and the enforcement efforts by Alaska’s laws enforcement agencies. An Alaska State Trooper Visual Information Specialist (VIS) produces video, audio, and photographic advertisements and training materials to be used to spread the message of the Alaska Highway Safety Office. The goal of these publicity campaigns are to raise awareness of impaired driving enforcement by police agencies in Alaska and decrease the percentage of Alaskans driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. 

Objective #1 - Increase the awareness of the dangers of impaired driving advertisements by five percent. This objective will be measured by the comparison of the rate of awareness measured by the surveys being currently being conducted under the FFY08 grant and surveys to be conducted under this grant. The comparison will be made after the Labor Day 09 survey. 

Objective #2 - Reduce the number of alcohol related fatal motor vehicle crashes from 25 in 2007 to 23 in 2009.

 

Soldotna Police Department Arrive Alive Media Campaign

Soldotna Police Department ARRIVE ALIVE media campaign addressed a broad range of traffic safety topics and attempted to be responsive to the most common contributing factors of crashes.  A variety of techniques included radio and newspaper ads, community education, contests, sports advertising, surveys and other methods to drive home the message that everyone should strive to ARRIVE ALIVE when traveling on local roadways.  Soldotna Police Officers recorded all the radio PSA’s and all but one were written by the ARRIVE ALIVE project management team.  The rarely repeated newspaper ads were designed in both black and white and color formats in order to keep the messages fresh and appealing. 

According to the figures provided by the media, over 3,000 PSA’s were heard by a local audience that numbered 50,000 Peninsula listeners with an additional 9,000 potentially hearing them in fringe areas, and combined, the 3 newspapers estimated reaching approximately 100,000 weekly readers.

The Peninsula Clarion further supported this project by providing more than $9,000 worth of unexpected bonus value in the form of a newspaper and internet caption contest designed to engage the community and get them to think about safe driving.  The Kenai River Brown Bears Hockey team partnered with this project in the creation of a safety poster and donated a hockey jersey as a prize for the caption contest.  The Clarion and Fred Meyer also donated $25 cash cards for additional contest prizes.  Among their most interesting ARRIVE ALIVE activities was a distracted driver survey conducted in conjunction with Soldotna’s Safety Day activities,  the small survey sampling provided an interesting snapshot of the behind-the-wheel usage of cell phones to peninsula drivers. 

While it’s not possible to know how many drivers may have changed their driving habits as a result of the ARRIVE ALIVE campaign, the reduction in injury causing crashes in the community to the lowest level in 5 years gives hope that at least some drivers modified their behavior in a positive way.

• Soldotna Police Department Arrive Alive media campaign 2011 PART ONE (3.8 MB)
• Soldotna Police Department Arrive Alive media campaign 2011 PART TWO (4.7 MB)

 

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