Belt up: Brutal advertising campaign targets young men who won't wear car seatbelts

Graphic recreation of injuries part of efforts to encourage young men to use safety device

Suffering broken limbs, punctured lungs and near paralysis is better than dying – this is the argument the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) is hoping to make to young men in its latest seatbelt campaign.

Nearly 100 deaths on New Zealand’s roads every year are linked to a driver not wearing a seatbelt.

Most of these are of men aged between 20 and 40 and occur at night, often after drinking.

The NZTA said many still viewed seatbelts as an unnecessary accessory and has resorted to an advertising campaign to demonstrate they are worth wearing.

The authority recruited young men who had survived car crashes thanks to their seatbelts to display in the most graphic way possible the extent of their injuries.

“They will save your life, but they will leave a mark to show you how they’ve done it,” says Dr Tash McKay, who provided medical advice for the campaign.

Post-crash photographs and memories from the survivor and their families were used to recreate their injuries with cosmetics.

Pictures were then taken of the recreated injuries, which are being displayed on hoardings in the car parks of pubs and bars around the country with the tag line “Belt up. Live on".

Car crash survivors are being invited to share their stories here.