Auto Emergency Braking (AEB) – A mass media campaign to increase fitment rates of AEB in Victoria, Australia

The TAC’s vehicle safety campaigns began over a decade ago and focussed on encouraging consumers to purchase a safer car by consulting independent safety ratings provided at howsafeisyourcar.com.au. Recent campaigns have also focussed on specific safety features, electronic stability control (ESC) and curtain airbags, which were supported by research demonstrating their potential safety benefits. _x000D_
Technological innovation proceeds rapidly within the automotive industry with manufacturers introducing a range of new safety-based technologies which have the potential to improve safety outcomes. An especially important innovation in recent times is the introduction of Auto Emergency Braking (AEB) systems. The effectiveness of AEB has been investigated in a number of studies and a range of effectiveness was found but the overall trend is a reduced number of crashes for vehicles equipped with AEB._x000D_
In 2014, the TAC ran a mass media public education campaign to raise awareness and encourage consumers to look for a vehicle with AEB when they next purchase a car. The AEB campaign was successful with regard to reach as well as message take out. The peak prompted recognition (69%) was in line with the target of (70%). Perhaps the most telling measure was the increase observed in awareness of AEB over the course of the campaign, rising to 80% of all Victorians. While there was lower than usual recall of any road safety advertising, and spontaneous recall of the campaign, this may relate to it not being perceived as a “road safety” campaign._x000D_