Motards: Lowering Motorcycling Deaths
Channel: MSL
Date: 2013-04-24

In France, one group of road users is particularly vulnerable: bikers.  This tribe-like gang make up just 2% of road users, yet account for a depressing 20% of all deaths on the road.  Yet despite what we may think, it's not external factors that cause the most motorcyclists' deaths on France's road -- it's bikers' own sense of invincibility when faced with a wide open road all to themselves -- they whack open the throttle, often with fatal consequences.  France's national road safety council needed to make its bikers aware of the shocking statistics, but to do that it would have to open lines of communication with a community known for their extreme insularity. More: it would need to hand the communications keys to influential bikers, so they themselves would spread the word in an 'inside-out' rather than top-down campaign. Tapping into the insight around invincibility, we came up with the strapline, 'The biggest danger is thinking that there is no danger', embedding it in bikers' minds across France by leveraging traditional media relations, social media influencer outreach and experiential events. The year following the campaign, France saw the lowest number of motorcyclist deaths on its roads for at least 15 years, a massive 14.5% decline over the previous year.  And 110 less lives lost.