Roadshow aims to burst distraction bubble

DriveSafe, Greater Manchester’s Casualty Reduction Partnership's logo

Rochdale residents are set to be blown away as giant zorb balls take to the streets today (Thursday 25 November 2010) as part of DriveSafe’s latest campaign, ‘Don’t Live Your Life In A Bubble,’ to highlight the dangers of pedestrian inattention.

DriveSafe, the Greater Manchester’s Casualty Reduction Partnership, identified that almost 90 pedestrians were killed or seriously injured on Rochdale’s roads between 2007 and 2009, and in order to drive this figure down, a roadshow is being held at The Butts Shopping Centre on Thursday 25th November.

Road safety representatives will be walking around in two large inflatable zorb balls and interacting with passers by at The Butts. By doing this they aim to demonstrate how pedestrians are oblivious to their surroundings when distracted by the latest electronic gadget.

In addition to the three metre tall spheres, Rochdale’s road safety officers will be supporting the campaign by offering advice on how to be more aware of the dangers, while handing out informative postcards.

Speaking about the campaign, Stuart Howarth, Rochdale’s Impact Partnership Road Safety Officer, said: “Pedestrians often walk down the street in their own little bubble unaware of what’s going on around them, because they are too busy playing with the latest app.

“Multi-tasking can create a potentially deadly situation for pedestrians which is why our campaign message is, ‘Don’t Live Your Life In A Bubble.’

“It comes down to individuals exercising common sense and putting their own and road users safety first and perhaps going back to basics by adopting the lesson of ‘look left and look right.’”

The campaign’s branding and landing page has been designed by Steve McKinney, a Manchester Metropolitan Student who won the ‘Don’t Live Your Life In A Bubble’ countywide competition.