The RTA has been the major sponsor of the RTA SpeedBlitz Blues since the 2002/2003 cricket season. The sponsorship of the RTA SpeedBlitz Blues is part of an ongoing campaign to raise awareness about the consequences of speeding, and to change attitudes towards speeding, particularly among young male drivers – who remain the most at-risk group on the roads.
Speeding is the single biggest cause of deaths and injuries on NSW roads. It is a factor in around 40 per cent of road deaths in NSW, killing around 200 people across the State each year. The role of the RTA SpeedBlitz Blues players is to help raise community awareness about the consequences of speeding. Some of the team’s most prominent players, including Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken and Stuart Clark, have been active in communicating safe driving messages.
This year, we hope to build on the success of our multi award-winning ‘Speeding. No one thinks big of you’ campaign by specifically targeting the cricket audience. Through this campaign Nathan Bracken, Beau Casson, Simon Katich, Stuart Clark and Phil Jaques are helping us tackle the beliefs and attitudes of young males. The aim is to increase the social unacceptability of speeding, undermine the perceived pay-off for speeding and empower the wider community to be a part of the solution.
The RTA SpeedBlitz Blues players are also involved in taking the anti-speeding message to the broader community through our shopping centre ‘Slow Down’ roadshows. This community event will also be held for the first time at a Twenty20 match in early 2009.
The RTA SpeedBlitz Blues roadshow program ‘On the Road’, where players visit high schools across the State to promote the message ‘Slow down. Take control.’ is underway again this year.
More than 26,853 senior high school students at around 154 schools across NSW have been visited by members of the team since the program’s introduction in 2003.
With two one day competition and three Sheffield Shield victories since the sponsorship began, and the involvement of squad members in promoting road safety messages, the RTA SpeedBlitz Blues have shown their commitment and determination both on and off the field.
For more details on the team go to: www.nswblues.com.
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