Not Dumb Luck – Melbourne Metro claims safety success
When we last wrote about the Melbourne Metro Safety Video “Dumb ways to Die”, The comments revealed a safety community divided in their response. Some said it was cute, catchy and highly effective, some said it was too simplistic or sent a very dangerous psychological message. Metro now claims that they have subsequently reduced the number of dumb incidents by 30% since November – how data collected over such a short period could be considered valid I do not know. As Dr Long recently stated on LinkedIn: “Now it’s dumb ways to near miss, more spin from the pr machine. Has the rate of suicide decreased?”
The age article (http://m.theage.com.au/victoria/no-dumb-luck-metro-claims-safety-success-20130214-2eelt.html) reports:
Metro’s quirky Dumb Ways to Die campaign – which has amassed 40 million hits on YouTube after going viral – has cut the number of "near-miss" accidents by more than 30 per cent, according to the rail operator.
The campaign, launched in November, is also being expanded into schools and may be licensed by overseas train operators.
The campaign theme song Dumb Ways to Die features a three-minute music video of 21 cartoon characters dying through stupid mistakes, such as swimming with piranhas. Three of the characters die after being hit by trains.
"Although it’s too early to be confident of a sustainable reduction in near misses, the early signs are encouraging," said Metro’s manager of corporate relations, Leah Waymark.
"The biggest improvement was in the number of collisions or near misses with vehicles and pedestrians at level crossings."
Ms Waymark said that for November to January 2011/12 there were 13.29 near-misses per million kilometres travelled by Metro trains on Melbourne’s suburban train network.
Do you have any thoughts? Please share them below