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10 Car Crash Survivors Pose Proudly For A Chilling Photo Project To Raise Awareness About Seatbelt Safety
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10 Car Crash Survivors Pose Proudly For A Chilling Photo Project To Raise Awareness About Seatbelt Safety

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Shocking portraits of the searing bruises that seatbelts can leave behind after a car crash are being celebrated as survival badges of honor, and showing the importance of belting up.

The initiative is part of an NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) social awareness campaign to reduce the number of deaths on NZ roads. According to them, 90 people die each year because they weren’t wearing their seatbelt, most of whom are young men in rural areas. The confronting portraits are of 10 real-life road accident survivors, whose post-crash injuries were recreated by the SFX make-up company PROFX.

More info: Website

Liam Bethell

Image credits: ourproductionteam

Kahutia Foster

Image credits: ourproductionteam

“A seatbelt really does leave a mark like this,” emergency medical specialist Dr. Natasha McKay, who provided her expertise to the road safety project, explained. “They will save your life, but they will leave you a mark to show how they’ve done it.”

Dion Perry

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Image credits: ourproductionteam

The social ads had been shown on billboards around the country, with the survivors releasing emotional videos that tell their story. The aim is to get people sharing their own survival stories, stressing the positive impact of seatbelts and the joy of being alive to tell the tale.

Dan Mason

Image credits: ourproductionteam

NZTA, who worked closely with marketing communications company Clemenger BBDO, was looking to change the attitudes of some men, who view the seatbelt as an optional extra rather than a life-saving necessity. “We’re selling an undesirable product to these guys,” spokesperson Rachel Prince told Designboom. “Research told us they think seatbelt public announcements are for kids, for the elderly, for everyone else. We worked with them to make the undesirable something they wanted to buy.”

Rick Haira

Image credits: ourproductionteam

Dylan Chirnside

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Image credits: ourproductionteam

Back in 2014, Willy Carberry’s car crashed into a power pole at speed before flipping over onto its side. He only survived the horrific accident because he was wearing his seatbelt, and he had the bruise marks across his chest to prove it.

Willy Carberry

Image credits: ourproductionteam

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“F***ing put a seatbelt on,” was his blunt message to guys who think they are invincible. In an interview with stuff.co.nz, he stressed that fate can be out of your hands when you’re out on the road, it’s not necessarily going to be a fault of your own that leads to a crash. “”It doesn’t matter how short the trip is. You never know who’s going to come out of the intersection and t-bone ya, or reverse out of a driveway, or an old lady going down the road, having a stroke.”

James Mcdonald

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Image credits: ourproductionteam

“If you don’t wear it, you’re gambling with your life, if you ask me.”

Will Giles

Image credits: ourproductionteam

James Liberona-Feek

Image credits: ourproductionteam

Check out some of the survivors’ hard-hitting and emotional videos below

Image credits: NZTransportAgency

Image credits: NZTransportAgency

Image credits: NZTransportAgency

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Image credits: NZTransportAgency

Here’s what people had to say – many shared their own stories

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Mindaugas Balčiauskas

Mindaugas Balčiauskas

Author, BoredPanda staff

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I'm a visual editor at Bored Panda. I kickstart my day with a mug of coffee bigger than my head, ready to tackle Photoshop. I navigate through the digital jungle with finesse, fueled by bamboo breaks and caffeine kicks. When the workday winds down, you might catch me devouring bamboo snacks while binging on the latest TV show, gaming or I could be out in nature, soaking up the tranquility and communing with my inner panda.

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Mindaugas Balčiauskas

Mindaugas Balčiauskas

Author, BoredPanda staff

I'm a visual editor at Bored Panda. I kickstart my day with a mug of coffee bigger than my head, ready to tackle Photoshop. I navigate through the digital jungle with finesse, fueled by bamboo breaks and caffeine kicks. When the workday winds down, you might catch me devouring bamboo snacks while binging on the latest TV show, gaming or I could be out in nature, soaking up the tranquility and communing with my inner panda.

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Uwe Theiss
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It should be, but in a world where people don't vaccinate their children because they believe that viruses doesn't exist, a lot of people seem to be able to live without a brain.

Load More Replies...
Alexandru Bucur
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah. Unfortunately, I know exactly how that fells, because I've been in a serious accident as a passenger, courtesy of an 18 year old kid who didn't have a driver's licence, but whose parents got him a BMW Z3 for his 18th birthday... He took it out for a ride, got to the first intersection, braked too late and then T-boned us so hard we spun 120 degrees. I was insanely lucky he hit just behind me and I have no doubt about it, the seatbelt and airbag saved me. Also, you'd think the airbag feels soft, because it's a bag full of air? Wrong! it's like being punched and for the next minute you're trying to make head or tails of what has happened and why there's dust everywhere... (it's talcum powder that helps the airbag deploy smoothly). So yeah, for Pete's sake, wear your seatbelt. It WILL save you.

Monika Soffronow
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have very close friends who lost their only son in a similar accident, with the difference that the kid hit the passenger door. His dad had bought him his new car about a month before he got the license. Needless to say, my friends will never get over the loss.

Load More Replies...
Withnail
Community Member
5 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's second nature to me, because my parents were always very strict about it. I instinctively reach for the seat belt as soon as I get into the car. And I'm teaching my daughter the same. She doesn't like it, but she'll like it much more than what could have happened to these guys...

toldyouso
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Same to me. My parents were very strict with that but unfortunately my uncles and aunts not so i always felt very uncomfortable when my cousins didnt seaten their belt and nobody said anything except me...

Load More Replies...
Load More Comments
Uwe Theiss
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It should be, but in a world where people don't vaccinate their children because they believe that viruses doesn't exist, a lot of people seem to be able to live without a brain.

Load More Replies...
Alexandru Bucur
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah. Unfortunately, I know exactly how that fells, because I've been in a serious accident as a passenger, courtesy of an 18 year old kid who didn't have a driver's licence, but whose parents got him a BMW Z3 for his 18th birthday... He took it out for a ride, got to the first intersection, braked too late and then T-boned us so hard we spun 120 degrees. I was insanely lucky he hit just behind me and I have no doubt about it, the seatbelt and airbag saved me. Also, you'd think the airbag feels soft, because it's a bag full of air? Wrong! it's like being punched and for the next minute you're trying to make head or tails of what has happened and why there's dust everywhere... (it's talcum powder that helps the airbag deploy smoothly). So yeah, for Pete's sake, wear your seatbelt. It WILL save you.

Monika Soffronow
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have very close friends who lost their only son in a similar accident, with the difference that the kid hit the passenger door. His dad had bought him his new car about a month before he got the license. Needless to say, my friends will never get over the loss.

Load More Replies...
Withnail
Community Member
5 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's second nature to me, because my parents were always very strict about it. I instinctively reach for the seat belt as soon as I get into the car. And I'm teaching my daughter the same. She doesn't like it, but she'll like it much more than what could have happened to these guys...

toldyouso
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Same to me. My parents were very strict with that but unfortunately my uncles and aunts not so i always felt very uncomfortable when my cousins didnt seaten their belt and nobody said anything except me...

Load More Replies...
Load More Comments
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