A campaign led by Norfolk County Council, which helped cut the number of young people killed or injured on Norfolk’s roads last year has won national recognition.

The ‘Don’t be a Loser - THINK road safety in Norfolk ’ campaign picked up the ‘best Public Sector campaign’ award at last night’s national Chartered Institute of Public Relations Excellence Awards in London, beating submissions from The Home Office, Westminster City Council and Camden Council amongst others.

The campaign, commissioned by the Norfolk Road Safety Partnership, led by Norfolk County Council and produced by Norfolk based marketing and communications agency Foxmurphy, ran from March to December 2006.

The County Council's Road Safety Unit and Fire and Rescue Service worked closer than ever with Norfolk Constabulary, Norfolk Safety Camera Partnership, the local NHS, and other partners, to try and counter the problem of deaths and serious injuries to 17-25 year olds on the county's road network via the Don't be a Loser campaign.

At the end of the campaign, provisional figures showed that the total number of those killed or seriously injured in Norfolk had fallen by 70 from the previous year.  In the targeted age group there was a 17% overall reduction in the number of 17- 25 year olds killed or seriously injured on Norfolk’s roads  

Research had previously shown that although only 20% of road users nationally are under 25, they accounted for 40% of all road deaths or serious injuries.  The number of 17-25 year old drivers being killed or seriously injured on Norfolk's roads had previously been a rising trend - with 175 drivers aged between 17 and 25 killed or seriously injured in 2005.

The reduction also meant a £1.6 million cash reward for Norfolk as the Government had tasked Norfolk County Council to reduce the number of people being killed or seriously injured on the county's roads by 40% by 2010, based around an average figure taken between 1994 and 1998.

Alec Byrne, Norfolk County Councillor and chairman of the Joint Casualty Reduction Partnership, said:
"I am thrilled to bits that our campaign has been recognised on a national stage. 

"It really is a great tribute to everyone in the partnership who worked so hard to make it a success. 
We certainly couldn't have done it without the support of the community, and many pubs, clubs, supermarkets and other organisations who backed the campaign.

"But the most satisfying thing about it was that it achieved our aim to significantly reduce the number of young people killed or seriously injured on our roads.  These sorts of deaths and injuries always represent a lasting tragedy for the families concerned, and we must continue our efforts to reduce them as far as possible by campaigning, taking enforcement action and carrying out road improvements.”

Chris Murphy, founder and agency head of Foxmurphy, said:
"It was a privilege to work on such an important campaign in Norfolk – and with the partners, who demonstrated great vision for what they wanted to achieve from it.  It is particularly satisfying that the great work produced by our team at Foxmurphy made such a tangible contribution to saving young lives in our county."

CIPR President, Lionel Zetter, said:
"The Excellence Awards judging process is tough and with 790 entries this year competition was strong, so winning an award is a great achievement.  It is confirmation that the Don't be a Loser campaign is amongst the best in Britain."

The campaign also recently won Best Consumer Campaign in the inaugural Marketing Excellence Awards by the Norfolk and Suffolk Chartered Institute of Marketing.