By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
LAST year 249 people died on Victorian roads – what is a more acceptable number?
Narre Warren’s Francisco Cerros is asked this question in TAC’s latest road safety advertisement.
His answer is 70.
At this point in the ad, which is part of the State Government’s new Towards Zero campaign, 70 of Francisco’s friends and family walk around the corner and approach him.
With tears brimming in his eyes, Francisco changes his answer to “zero”.
“They told me it was going to be an in-house training video to be used for the TAC,” Francisco said afterwards.
“I thought it was just going to be a general question-and-answer type thing but then when they asked me what the road toll should be and I said ‘70’ and then they showed me what 70 people were and it was my family, I mean that was … that was emotional.
“When you see your family and you see their faces and you link that with the road toll it makes it very personal.”
Francisco is not an actor and he had no idea his family and friends were around the corner when he gave his unscripted response.
After the ad was shot, Francisco voiced his support for the Towards Zero campaign.
“Every accident on the road can be prevented,” he said.
“We as motorists, as drivers as pedestrians, we need to pay attention, be aware of what’s going on and zero should be what we should all be aiming for.”
Francisco’s wife, Charlene, said her family were “terrible with secrets” but had managed to keep it from him this time.
“It’s really hard keeping it from him ’cause he’s my husband, he’s my person, I tell him everything and this whole week I haven’t had that,” she said.
“Just the first time we walked around the corner as a practice, so he wasn’t even there, I was getting teary because the end was near. I could tell him everything.
“I knew he could get really emotional. Or my main thought was I think he’s just going to be in shock because all of his family were there, and he understands how momentous that is.
“When you do personalise it, when you do think, hang on if you think 70 people is an alright number … yes it’s lower than what we have but when it’s your 70 people, it’s a massive difference.”
The Towards Zero campaign is supported by the government’s new Towards Zero Road Safety Strategy to be launched later this year.
Roads Minister and Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan was at the second annual Towards Zero Road Safety Leadership Symposium last month, where the campaign was launched.
“We realise Towards Zero sets an ambitious target but unless we’re working towards the highest possible benchmark, Victorians will continue to lose loved ones to road trauma and we can never accept that,” Mr Donnellan said.
“If we’re not aiming for zero, we are saying to ourselves that there is an acceptable level of road trauma.”
