Young Australian men who drive too fast have had the size of their manhood questioned in the latest drive by anti-speeding campaigners to cut road deaths.
The below-the-belt television ads show women noticing a young man roaring past and then turning scornfully to their friends and wiggling their little fingers.
The mocking gesture is a clear sign they believe the driver is trying to compensate for an inadequate manhood, and is designed to counter the idea that speeding is cool and macho.
The “Speeding: No one thinks big of you” campaign targets young men between the ages of 17 and 25, the New South Wales state Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) said on Monday after the ads aired for the first time on Sunday night.
“All the ads in the world showing the serious injury and death that speeding can cause are becoming less effective,” the RTA said on its website. “Increasingly, young guys simply reject this message. They have an ‘it won’t happen to me’ attitude.”
The new campaign “could very well be the thread that unravels the mindset that speeding is cool”.
The campaign runs on television, in cinemas, on posters at bus shelters and in an internet ad that offers speedsters an “xtra xtra small” condom.
RTA spokesperson John Whelan acknowledged the ads would be controversial, but told local media: “We will do what we feel we have to to get the message through.”
Speeding is a factor in about 40% of road deaths in New South Wales, killing more than 220 people a year, the RTA says. — AFP