Sept. 4, 2024 (Delhi, India)—Every year, 1.19 million lives are lost on roads worldwide, with far too many road users dying in preventable crashes. But change is possible in every country. That’s the core tenet behind Vital Strategies’ evidence-based road safety campaign approach, which received the Exemplary Worldwide Positive Impact Through Safety Media award, a special merit award for evaluations, at the International Safety Media Awards (ISMA) during the 14th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety hosted in New Delhi, India.
The award honors media entries that excel in assessing and communicating safety-related issues. This is the second win for Vital Strategies, which received ISMA’s Evaluation Methodology and Outcomes Award in 2018. In addition, nine government-led campaigns, supported by Vital Strategies, were recognized for addressing issues of speeding and helmet-wearing.
“Understanding the impact of a campaign—how and why it changes behavior and saves lives on the roads—is essential for creating safer streets for everyone,” said Sandra Mullin, Senior Vice President, Policy Advocacy and Communication at Vital Strategies. “Our evidence-based campaign approach, combined with strong enforcement of traffic laws, is designed to drive real change and save lives. We are proud to receive the International Safety Media Awards recognition for evaluation efforts, and thrilled that our partners’ campaigns have been recognized on a global stage.”
Vital Strategies and Parachute Canada each received a Special Merit Award for the highest evaluation scores among ISMA entries. The evaluation processes are judged by effectiveness, innovation, clarity and rigor, impact assessment, and documentation and reporting.
This year, more than 250 media pieces from 28 countries were submitted to ISMA. A jury of 14 injury prevention and media specialists from 11 countries selected winners across six categories based on production quality, message clarity, innovation and creativity, and evaluation methods and outcomes. ISMA has recognized exceptional safety media worldwide since 2006.
Vital Strategies is an implementing partner in the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS), which supports 27 cities and two states across 15 countries to design and implement data-driven actions to prevent traffic crashes and save lives.
Vital Strategies is thrilled to celebrate the nine BIGRS-supported award winners:
- Maharashtra Highway State Police, in collaboration with Pune City Traffic Police: “Speeding Can Cost a Family Its Future: Story of Narkars”
- Karnataka State Road Safety Authority, Government of Karnataka: “The High Cost of Speeding: Story of Purushottama, Geethamma & Family”
- Mumbai Traffic Police, Karnataka State Road Safety Authority: helmet-wearing campaign “Consequences”
- The Secretary of Mobility of Bogotá, Colombia, the Secretary of Mobility of Cali, Colombia and Colombia’s National Road Safety Agency: “It Didn’t Have to Happen. Slow Down”
- The National Transit Agency of Ecuador: Fourth place in the Ultra Short Video category with their campaign “Slow Down, Your Family is Waiting for You”
- The National Transit Agency of Ecuador: Fourth place in the Short Video category with their campaign “Slow Down, Your Family is Waiting for You”
- The Traffic Autarchy in Campinas, Brazil: “Slow Down – Don’t Exceed the Limit of Life” and the Traffic Superintendency from Salvador with their campaign “Will You Let It Happen?”
- Secretary of Mobility of Córdoba, Argentina: Fifth place in the High Budget Campaign category with their campaign “Slow Down.”
Since 2015, Vital Strategies has supported more than 70 media campaigns through BIGRS. As a BIGRS partner, Vital Strategies provides technical support to governments, which includes the development of data-driven campaigns to change risky behaviors. The current BIGRS phase focuses on speeding, which influences both the likelihood and the severity of a crash.
About Vital Strategies
Vital Strategies believes every person should be protected by an equitable and effective public health system. We partner with governments, communities and organizations around the world to reimagine public health so that health is supported in all the places we live, work and play. The result is millions of people living longer, healthier lives.
To find out more, please visit www.vitalstrategies.org or follow us on LinkedIn.
About the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety
The Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) works with the world’s leading road safety organizations to implement road safety activities and coordinate with in-country governmental and non-governmental stakeholders. BIGRS places an emphasis on achieving outcomes, and on using high-quality monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to continually assess progress.
Media Contact(s):
Kristi Saporito, ksaporito@vitalstrategies.org, +1-917-886-4657
Ally Davis, adavis@vitalstrategies.org, +1-516-205-4203