A Very Unconventional Approach to Discourage Speeding

Here’s an innovative idea to get people to stop speeding: make them sign their organs away instead of paying a $50 fine.

Governments launch many mass advertising campaigns to educate and influence social behavior. Whether it’s warning against drunk driving or buckling up, or even being more “green,” it’s hard to actually change behavior though.
The Latvian government needed to create an ad campaign that targeted young males, aged 20-35, who are the fastest drivers and the ones always getting into car crashes. An ad agency from Latvia called MOOZ! developed a campaign against speeding and aggressive driving by incorporating a punishment with a social problem – lack of organ donors.
The agency concluded that educating this group was useless, because they didn’t drive fast and recklessly because they don’t know the risks; they do it because it makes them look cool in front of their peers.

So, MOOZ! created an Organ Donors Certificate as part of the ad campaign. During the campaign, those drivers that were pulled over for speeding were asked to sign their organs to someone who is waiting in line for a transplant. Certificates were issued directly to drivers who were pulled over by the Latvian road traffic police.

No word on how all this would have been enforced, but the message was effective. The number of victims dropped by 29 percent!

Here’s a copy of the exact wording on the certificate, which those pulled over had to read and sign:
“Organ Donor's Certificate.There are people who would give up everything to be in your place, and being in your place they would never play with their life. THINK!

I, ____ _____. Since I tend to exceed the speed limit and/or drive aggressively: With this I certify that my life is not important to me and I would gladly spit on it. Being of sound mind and body I am aware that sooner or later an accident will occur, and therefore immediately after the accident I agree to bequeath my heart, kidneys, as well as any other organs that will not be damaged upon impact to those who need them more.I ask for forgiveness in advance for those people and their loved ones who I will have killed or crippled in the crash. __, _______, 200_. Signature __________.”

You can see the organ donation certificate at AdsoftheWorld.com.

In my opinion, reading this will definitely have more impact than paying a fine will. But I’m surprised that the government didn’t want to have the offenders sign the certificate along with paying the fine. I guess that goes to show how serious the Latvian government was about this campaign.

And the other nice thing about this campaign was that it highlighted the social problem of the shortage of organ donors. A one-two punch if you will.