BBDO Moscow and Renault Russia talking out loud about mental and emotional injuries after a car accident to support drivers
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after car accidents appeared to be highly underestimated problem, that hadn’t been widely addressed before. This is the terrible oversight. According to the research published at US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health[1], the pooled prevalence of PTSD among RTA survivors was 22.25%. This means that every fifth driver that gets into car accidents suffers from psychological trauma that causes anxiety, panic and fear of driving. By the year 2020, the injury caused by RTA will be the 3rd-leading cause of disability.
This problem has never been covered in Russia, so people don’t know where to seek help. Addressing this problem to a psychotherapist isn’t an option for majority of Russians as they have a habit to deal with their traumas by themselves. According to Russian Public Opinion Research Center survey, only 1% of Russians look for counselling in a challenging situation.
With over 2,7 mln car accidents happening in Russia every year, these group of people couldn’t be ignored anymore.
“We were surprised the problem hadn’t been addressed before”, commented Alexandr Zagorsky, Creative director at BBDO, “When we started to work on the project, it turned out there were lots of people around who had stopped driving after accidents, as they were unable to overcome fear on their own and didn’t know where to apply for help”.
BBDO teamed up with Renault Russia and the “Dinamika” psychological support center (http://dinamika.moscow/) and developed the “Renault Drive Therapy” project. A unique therapeutic experience for drivers in Renault dealership center was created by turning Renault test driving cars into meeting points with psychotherapists.
For a month, Renault dealership in Moscow hosted 20 professional therapists with driver instructor skills. Renault Logan Stepway test drive cars were equipped with dual control pedals and arranged a safe driving area. Participants applied for Drive Therapy on the project website and got 3 free sessions with a therapist inside the car. The first session was held inside a parked car and included counseling, discussion of the accident, discovering deep sources of the fear. On the second session talking therapy was combined with driving in a safe area – therapist accompanied the participant and had full control over the car. On the third session they drove on the real city road.
“Part of the therapy against car anxiety is the car itself. That’s why we really appreciate that our initiative was picked up by Renault, one of Russia’s largest car brands”, comments Sergey Pleshkov, BBDO Senior Art director, “A car brand has to be bold to not shy away from the responsibility of being the first to actually address the issue of car accidents and their consequences for people’s mental well-being.”
[1] http://europepmc.org/articles/pmc5779792
Case video – https://youtu.be/5IdFnZaYhqk
