Watch The Victorian Government’s Powerful New Campaign To Cut Road Fatalities Down To Zero
Try and get through the next minute without crying. JUST TRY.
Last year, 249 people died on Victorian roads.
In an ad spot put together by the state’s Traffic Accident Commission, which launched overnight with the full campaign and website, Francisco — not an actor — was asked how many fatalities he thought would be more acceptable.
He said “70”, and you’re about to cry.
“At the heart of Towards Zero is the belief that human health is paramount to all else,” reads the campaign website. “As people, we all make mistakes. However, when mistakes happen on our roads they can cost us our lives or cause serious injury. That’s because our bodies aren’t made to absorb the forces of high impact speeds … Improving the safety of our roads, our speeds, our vehicles and our people will improve safety for everyone.”
In a behind-the-scenes video released in conjunction with the TV spot, Francisco says he wasn’t aware what was about to happen; he was told he would be part of an in-house training video for the TAC instead. “I thought it was going to be a question-and-answer-type thing,” he says, surprised that his wife managed to keep the secret. “She was emotional about it, too.”
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Francisco’s wife agrees that their family are terrible with secrets: “But my husband had no idea”.
“It was really hard keeping it from him, because he’s my husband — he’s my person,” she says, a description which absolutely did not make my eyes prick with tears again. “This whole week I haven’t had that. Just the first time we walked around the corner as a practice — he wasn’t even there — I was getting teary because the end was near. I could tell him everything.
“My main thought was that he was going to be in shock, because all of his family were there. And he understands how momentous that is.”
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And here’s Jorge and Margarita, Francisco’s parents. “When we think about a statistic, sometimes it doesn’t mean anything,” Jorge says. “But when you talk about family — people you love and you care for — it makes a big impact.”
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Visit the Towards Zero website here.