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New Vision Zero Campaign Targets Men Who Drive Trucks, SUVs
By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Dec 13, 2019
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By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Dec 13, 2019
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With cyclists and pedestrian fatalities up for the first time under Mayor Bill de Blasio's tenure, city officials are trying a new gambit: appealing to the "emotional experience of the motorist."
Unveiled on Friday, the latest Vision Zero marketing campaign specifically aims to tug at the heartstrings of truck- and SUV-driving men, a group responsible for an overwhelming number of fatalities on city streets.
The $4 million “Was it Worth It?” campaign launched with a Spanish billboard in Washington Heights. The signs mix photos of devastated male motorists and post-crash imagery, imploring drivers to reduce speeds or turn slower. Audio PSAs will also run on English, Spanish, & Haitian Creole radio station during the evening commute.
"While previous Vision Zero campaigns had focused mostly on the victims of traffic crashes, this campaign relies for the first time on the emotional experience of the motorist," reads a press release.
City officials say that new data has pushed them to train their efforts on the male truck-driving demographic. More than three quarters of the drivers responsible for fatal crashes in recent years have been men, according to NYPD statistics; of that group, roughly 41 percent were found to be driving a truck or SUV.
Transit advocates said they were happy to see the new campaign, which appeals to motorists' perspectives without absolving them of responsibility to drive safely. (The Port Authority, meanwhile, recently appeared to blame cyclists for making life difficult for motorists who hit them).
"It's good to see the DOT focusing its message on the drivers who disproportionately do the most damage," Joe Cutrufo, a spokesperson for Transportation Alternatives, told Gothamist.
Of the 28 cyclists killed this year, more than half have died at the hands of truck and SUV drivers. Over the summer, DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg cited the explosive rise of Amazon and other e-commerce services, and their reliance on enormous low-visibility vehicles, as a possible justification.
A total of 203 people have died in crashes this year, including 106 pedestrians, representing a 6 percent jump from the same period in 2018.
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we the commuters
truck drivers
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polly trottenberg
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Jake Offenhartz
Jake Offenhartz is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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