New ad targets speed North and South

A television ad urging young motorists to slow down on the roads is to be screened in the Republic and the North from tonight.

The ad with the theme, The faster the speed, the bigger the mess,was unveiled today by Minister for Transport Martin Cullen and Permanent Secretary of the North's Department of the Environment Stephen Peover.

It will be shown across several television networks on both sides of the Border, with the first screening on RTÉ 1 at 9.15pm and on UTV at 9.30pm tonight.

The campaign is the 12th cross-Border road safety initiative between the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland. It will hit the screens during the UN's First Global Road Safety week, which runs until Sunday.

Speaking this morning, Mr Cullen said: "The advertisement's message about speed is aimed specifically at young drivers.

"Car crashes are the number one killers of young men in Ireland. The over-representation of young people, and particularly young males, in road accidents is a recognised phenomenon in many countries."

Men aged between 17 and 24 years are almost six times more likely to be responsible for fatal or serious injury crashes where excessive speed is cited as a contributory factor.

For every kilometre driven, a 17 year-old male is eight times more likely to be involved in a crash than a middle-aged man, according to the Road Safety Authority.