Award winning ad shown to students in Mayo

For the fifth year in a row, the AXA Roadsafe Roadshow took place in Mayo on February 3^rd 2011. Almost 1,500 transition year students from all over Mayo and surrounding counties attended the roadshow which was run in association with Mayo County Council in the TF Royal theatre.

The roadshow depicts how a great night out can end in tragedy in a split second and includes a viewing of ‘Embrace Life’, an award-winning seatbelt advert. Our aim is to highlight how tragic fatal car accidents involving young people are all too common in Ireland.

Since its launch in January 2010, the advert became a worldwide viral success overnight, getting over 11.8 million views on YouTube alone in ten months.  Created to raise awareness of the importance of wearing a seatbelt,the campaign has scooped a wide range of awards, including

• YouTube Ad of the Year, and
• Prince Michael International Road Safety Award

Global support for the campaign has been strong – especially through Twitter and Facebook, where one viewer was moved to create a group dedicated to getting the campaign on TV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-8PBx7isoM

The most beautiful seatbelt advocacy commercial ever (produced by the Sussex safer roads in the UK)

Noel Gibbons, Road Safety Officer with Mayo County Council said : “Embrace Life deals with the non-wearing of seatbelts by both drivers and passengers which continues to be an issue not only in Mayo, but across the entire Country and EU, despite many years of high profile campaigning.”

“The Gardai stop thousands of drivers every year for failing to restrain themselves properly, or restrain their passengers properly. In 2009, over 19,367 Fixed Penalty Notices were issued to drivers who failed to wear seat belts properly in the vehicle – and one can only imagine the impact this would have had should those vehicles have been involved in a collision.”

Paul Moloney, Head of Corporate Affairs at AXA Insurance added: “At AXA we are big supporters of road safety initiatives through our AXA Roadsafe Roadshow series. We welcome any campaign that highlights the importance of wearing seatbelts as this remains a major contributing factor to road deaths in Ireland each year”.

If you are interested in finding out more about Road Safety make sure to follow AXA on Twitter and become friends on our AXA Roadsafety facebook page.

Brought to you by AXA Car Insurance Ireland