Arriva’s buses were involved in eight collisions with pedestrians in Leicester city centre in 2018, and a further five in the following five months – including one death. Leicestershire Police confirmed that this issue was not isolated to Arriva but all bus companies across the city.
Analysis showed more than 65% of bus collisions with pedestrians in Leicester city centre involved the pedestrian being distracted. To address this, in May 2019, Arriva created an awareness campaign with physical branding, social media, and pedestrian interaction days, to highlight the dangers of being distracted while crossing the road.
The campaign had two main slogans: “Don’t play games with your life”, and “Don’t let that song be your last”.
To get other stakeholders on board, Arriva approached the city council, Leicestershire Police, and another bus company, to ask for their support. It was agreed that all buses would have campaign branding, as well as every bus shelter in the city centre. A joint social media campaign was launched, and a pedestrian awareness day was held on 2 September, where all four stakeholders came together to publicise the campaign.
This campaign helped to reduce bus/pedestrian collisions in Leicestershire city centre by 60%. It reached over 300,000 people on social media, and was covered by local and national broadcast television.
Arriva won the 2020 Road Safety in the Community Award at the UK Fleet Champions Awards.
See more previous winners.