Raising awareness for young drivers with The AA through Caitlin's Hour

In the UK, over 2,220 teens of driving age died or were seriously injured on the road last year, with 71% of fatal crashes involving young drivers occurring on rural roads due to a lack of driving experience and low awareness of hazards. The AA Trust challenged us to raise awareness among inexperienced young drivers of the increased risk they face driving on the UK’s rural roads.

Using radio placed us next to young drivers when the availability of media was scarce, but we needed to show why rural roads are more dangerous. We told Caitlin’s story, in which she fatally collided with a van on a rural road on a rainy night. Caitlin’s Hour was an hour-long radio show, running nationally on Hits Radio Network and Kerrang! Radio, chronicling the last hour of Caitlin’s life through her mum, best friends, and station presenters, featuring her favourite songs and introducing advice from paramedics and the AA. Using an AA-created map, Bauer ensured coverage across accident hotspots, covering 60% of the top twenty most dangerous rural roads for young drivers, including the A595, where Caitlin tragically died.

The campaign saw an uplift across all stations, doubling across the UK’s top twenty most dangerous rural roads and tripling near Caitlin’s crash site. Most importantly, the campaign prompted an initiative to create more emphasis on rural roads and a project to give Caitlin’s message to every new driver on passing their test, as well as editorial coverage and mentions across broadcast, online, and print, including The Daily Mail and The Telegraph.