Danish authorities have an internet campaign featuring topless models urging male motorists to slow down, writes Patrick Logue.
Picture it if you can. A young blonde lady minus her clothes, save for the skimpiest lower half of a bikini. This young lady and her friend, similarly half-naked, are flanking either side of a busy road in the Danish capital Copenhagen to the delight of hordes of passing males.
The fact that they are furiously waving 50 km/h speed limit signs in the air urging motorists to slow down doesn't take from the spectacle. In fact, it may be getting a very serious message across to motorists who might otherwise ignore it.
Now, before all you hotblooded males race to the nearest travel agent to get on the next flight to Denmark, save your credit card and power up your PC.
The internet is the only place you will see the so-called "Speed Control Bikini Bandits". What they are appearing in is merely a spoof news report made by the Danish road safety council.
It is the council's latest and most innovative attempt to cut road deaths among young men in Denmark. The country of 5.5 million sees about 300 road deaths per annum. About one third of these are young drivers, and about 80 per cent of that number are male.
Denmark, like most countries, suffers the problem of young men driving too fast and killing themselves on the roads. The council hopes that this viral internet campaign will get young drivers to slow down.
"It seems very basic but young men like to see topless women," explains Julia Pauli of the Danish Road Safety Council. "Young guys are involved in way too many traffic accidents in Denmark. We wanted to try a new medium and wanted to target this group."
The campaign started three weeks ago, and since then 1,900 separate websites have already posted links to the video clip. It has been viewed by four million people.
Some 8,000 Irish internet users have watched the clip, according to Pauli, who says they have even had hits from the Vatican city.
While some might be outraged by the use of nudity to save lives on the roads, Pauli says the tactic has been well thought out. "The young are using the internet a lot and it is difficult to reach them using traditional media. It has to be interesting or funny because otherwise they won't e-mail it to each other."
She says initial studies of the campaign show that 50 per cent of young male drivers would rethink speeding having seen the video. They plan to use similar campaigns in the future.
Here in Ireland, the public face of our road safety campaign is retired broadcaster Gay Byrne. Alongside his media messages there are several generally used television advertising campaigns to shock drivers into slowing down.
Brian Farrell of the Road Safety Authority (RSA) insists that the campaigns to date have been successful in changing Irish attitudes, particularly in relation to drink driving.
But he adds: "We are mindful of the need to introduce measures to target young male drivers."
The most recent analysis of road collisions in the State found that almost 50 per cent of drivers involved in fatal crashes were between the ages of 18 and 35. Most of these were men.
Against this background, Farrell told The Irish Timesthis week that the RSA was at an "advanced stage" of planning an internet road safety campaign, along the lines of the Danish Speed Bandits campaign to target these drivers. It will run early next year, said Farrell.
"Clearly there is a small at-risk group. We have to get into their minds. We don't have topless models or anything like that, but it will be something different and internet-based. We have to look at different types of intervention."
He said the RSA would also use next year's Irish stage of the World Rally Championship to target the young male audience. He said this campaign would be in co-operation with authorities in Northern Ireland.
But Derek Troy, editor of Driver.ie, a website for car enthusiasts, believes authorities here have failed in getting through to young men, who he says are victimised by constant derogatory references to so-called boy racers, not least from RSA chairman Gay Byrne.
The problem seems to be that young people just don't relate to the public face of the RSA.
"Gay Byrne should be appealing to people my Dad's age saying be more careful, be more aware of your surroundings," Troy said.
"He should not be talking to young drivers. He is compeletely out of touch. They should be using people from the same age group, talking to people, going around the schools trying to teach people about the responsibility of owning a car."
However, Troy said he has had useful discussions with RSA chief Noel Brett about how best to get the correct message across to young men.
"Everybody is talking about clamping down on young men but nobody is educating people how to drive," he added.
Four million view Danish road safety video
More than four million people, including a small number in the Vatican city, have viewed a spoof road safety video featuring topless models, according to the Danish road safety council.
The council made the video to highlight the issue of speeding on Danish roads, particularly among young men.
The mock video's news bulletin reports that semi-naked blonde women were being posted on Danish roads as part of a speed awareness campaign.
But the report is a spoof and the topless road safety campaign models are working for the Danish road safety council.
Council spokeswoman Julia Pauli said that they released the spoof video on the Internet three weeks ago She said that it had already been viewed by more than 4 million Internet users around the world, including 8,000 in Ireland and 50 in Vatican city.
The viral campaign, which is specifically targeted at young male Danish drivers, relies on users e-mailing the video to friends, therefore spreading the message that drivers need to slow down on the roads.
Denmark sees about 300 road deaths each year and has a particular problem among young men.
"It is difficult to reach them using traditional media," Pauli said.
It is the first time the safety body used an Internet-only campaign but may use more in the future.
"The reaction has been really positive. People say it is really innovative, " Pauli added.