Think! slow down commercial returns to TV screens

A new burst of the Think! television commercial designed to encourage drivers to slow down will run 24-30 May inclusive.

The commercial focuses on stopping distances and shows how a car driving at 35mph fails to stop in time and hits a dummy of a child. If the car had been travelling at 30mph the driver would have been able to stop in time.

"Nearly ten people die every day on Britain's roads and speeding is by far the biggest single contributory factor - either driving too fast for the conditions or exceeding the speed limit," says the DfT’s Lisa Gossage.

Around two thirds of all accidents in which people are killed or injured happen on built-up roads where the speed limit is 40mph or less. Two thirds of car drivers regularly break the 30 mph speed limit and half of these by more than five miles per hour. An average passenger car travelling at 35mph will need an extra 21 feet (six metres) to stop, compared to one travelling at 30mph.