Road safety advertising operates under the ultimate pressure: creative teams know their ability to cut through and change behaviour will literally determine whether people live or die. When the stakes are this high, creativity becomes a matter of life and death.

Consider the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) in Victoria, Australia—a masterclass in sustained creative excellence. Over two decades, they’ve produced more than 150 campaigns, creating what amounts to a hall of fame of road safety advertising. The results speak for themselves: road deaths in Victoria have halved during this period.

The genius lies not just in individual campaigns, but in tackling different dangerous behaviours with precisely targeted creative approaches. Here are five exemplary campaigns, each addressing a distinct road safety challenge:

TAC – No Accident & The Wife

Two brilliant TAC ads (the second is a sequel to the first) that tackle perhaps the most difficult behaviour change: convincing drivers not to go even slightly over the speed limit. These aren’t even TAC’s most powerful work—which says everything about the quality of their output.

COI – One More Dave

Drink driving was once the biggest killer on our roads. We rarely see it featured in campaigns now precisely because creative work like this has been so successful. This 30-second masterpiece was born from research revealing that young men weren’t afraid of death—they were afraid of disability.

TAC – Protect

Will you ever ride a motorcycle without protective clothing after watching this? We doubt it. TAC’s unflinching approach to showing consequences creates behaviour change through visceral impact.

Sussex Safer Roads – Embrace Life

Most road safety advertising, including many featured here, uses horror to motivate. This campaign does the opposite—using love and protection as its driving force—yet proves extraordinarily moving and persuasive.

Volkswagen – Eyes On The Road

As drink driving declined, texting whilst driving emerged as the new scourge. This campaign represents a breakthrough in immersive advertising—an unbelievably brilliant idea that makes the audience complicit in the danger.

The Ideas Lab examines what makes effective (or ineffective) communications in the fields of causes, charities and social-impact businesses.