A series of ‘fake’ accidents were staged around Bermuda today as the Road Safety Council tried to drive home the need for care on the roads.

This morning saw the roll-out of the first “guerrilla marketing” part of a week-long safety campaign, with the HWP Group providing the remains of ten motor bikes that had been involved in crashes, which were placed in locations around the Island.

As well as the bike remains, the Road Safety Council also put signs in place signifying the reason of a specific crash, such as someone driving while talking on their cell phone.

A spokesman said: “The most impactful part is that we enlisted ‘live’ actors to portray collision victims and to ensure that the crash scene was as realistic as possible. Torn clothing, blood, graphic injury such as bones sticking out, were so realistic that numerous members of the public stopped to provide assistance.

“The overall objective was to motivate the Bermuda public to make the choice of driving responsibly, safety and within the realms of the laws.”

The spokesman added: “Our intent was to generate an emotional response from the public, to ‘shock’ the public into taking action and making the right choice with regard to their driving behaviour and/or ensuring their family and friends make the right choices. The campaign was very successful to that regard.

“We have received very positive feedback from the public, albeit some were upset or disturbed. But again, that is what we were aiming for. One of our objectives is to motivate dialogue and we've done just that.”

The initiative was part of Road Safety Week which is taking place this week.

Locations include of the ‘accidents’ were: East Broadway; Trimingham Hill/South Shore road roundabout; Palmetto Road: North Shore junction at the bottom of Palmetto Road: Eastern round about on St. John's Road; Rockaway stretch in Southampton; Barnes Corner, Southampton’ South Shore Road, Warwick; Middle Road, Devonshire (veggie cart location) and Ferry Reach stretch.

* Full story and pictures in The Royal Gazette tomorrow.