Nearly 40 percent of New Zealanders admit to sending or reading text messages in a vehicle, while nearly 20 percent check or reply to social media messages.
Young drivers have the highest frequency of fatal or injury crashes from being distracted while driving. This is largely due to mobile phones being the main distraction in a car and young drivers having a greater exposure to and using mobile phones while driving. It’s estimated that the crash risk of a young driver when using their phones is 4 times that of those that do not use their phone while driving.
This campaign is aimed at young drivers (16-24 years old) who have the highest frequency of fatal or serious injury crashes related to being distracted while driving.
The campaign is a collaboration between ACC and NZTA, with input from NZ Police. Utilising ACC’s ‘Have a hmmm’ marketing platform we’ll be asking young drivers “if you get hurt, who gets harmed?”
We’re encouraging young drivers to ‘have a hmmm’ and to put their phone on do not disturb before driving.
Through the theme of “ghosting” (ignoring people) a behaviour young people associate with phones and devices, the campaign flips this from being a negative behaviour to a positive action they can take to keep safe on the road.
We’ll be asking young drivers to “ghost their mates, loved ones and their phone” – by getting them to put their phone on ‘do not disturb’ and driving distraction free.
Find out more how mobile phones can distract you when driving
The campaign will launch on Monday 14 April 2025, with advertising running across Instagram, Tik Tok, radio, digital audio (e.g. Spotify) and street posters. The initial burst of advertising is 2 months. The campaign will run again over the course of the year.
This new campaign is a part of the wider National Road Safety Promotion Programme, which includes public information campaigns and education initiatives that support NZ Police enforcement, address high-risk road safety behaviours, and help at-risk groups that contribute disproportionately to deaths and serious injuries on New Zealand’s roads.
The cost to produce the campaign is $216,430 and this cost was shared between NZTA and ACC. This includes producing advertising for social media, radio, digital channels and out of home
Here you can view the marketing materials such as social media, posters and radio ads.
