Think campaign launched in Costa Rica

The Automobile Club of Costa Rica launched its Think campaign on 4th April with the support of the National Road Safety Council, , Bridgestone Firestone, the vehicle inspections group Riteve, Castrol and 3M with the aim to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries as a result of road traffic accidents. Last year 332 people lost their lives and 22,000 were injured in a total of 44,000 accidents.

Speaking at the press conference, the President of the Automobile Club of Costa Rica Carlos Macaya said that the simple messages of the campaign aim at reminding people of the need to wear their seat belt and to ensure that all the passengers in the car including the children are restrained properly, that head restraints are adjusted properly and the tyres are checked on a regular basis. Very often we do not do these very simple things, not because we do not want to but because we just simply forget.”

The Automobile Club of Costa Rica and the National Road Safety Council ran a very successful seat belt campaign in 2004 with the support of the FIA Foundation which led to the rehabilitation of a compulsory seat belt legislation which in combination with road traffic police enforcement led to an increase of seat belt wearing rates of 24% to 82%. However, although people massively supported the initiative, a survey after the campaign found that children were still not restrained properly. The Think before you Drive campaign is therefore a continued effort to create awareness.

The road traffic police held a road safety check activity during the busy Easter weekend and distributed the Think before you Drive campaign leaflets, an activity that they will repeat in May and July. The Automobile Club’s seat belt slide will tour commercial centres to demonstrate the effectiveness of the seat belt and the vehicle inspection centres will allow people to have their cars checked. The campaign focus will be on restraint devices in April; on tyre safety and general car maintenance in May and on dangerous driving behaviour in June.