Creative agencies throughout the world have tried a vast range of things to get people to drive safely and within speed limits. Most common is the scare tactic. In real life, the police do it with fines. But insurers and their agencies have been trying something different. In Australia, Leo Burnett and AAMI launched The AAMI Driving Test. It played on natural competitiveness, pitting Aussie against one another to win the title of one of Australia’s safest drivers.

In the US, creative studio, Cash Studios, and insurance company, Lemonade, set up pink, branded digital roadside signs, dubbed Slow Signs, around Austin in Texas. Rather than the usual signs that warn or chastise dangerous drivers, the Slow Sign acknowledged and rewarded those driving at or below the speed limit (that’s about 10% of drivers).

The Slow Signs used radar to identify the colour and make of an approaching car and only lit up for safe drivers with messages such as, “Obsessed with your safe driving”, “Way To Drive a Fast Car Slow”, and “You Understood The Assignment”. When motorists drove past the sign at speeds over the limit, the radar speed sign flashed with their speed. They could only watch the safe drivers get their applause.

Here’s the Australian campaign: