In Québec, drivers often fail to respect school zone speed limits. Over the last two years, the number of children involved in road accidents has drastically increased by 12%. The Government of Québec had to find a way to get motorists to slow down when entering a 30km/h school zone.

We introduced Living Radars: a school backpack for children with an integrated radar and digital display. The idea was to get drivers to react instantly upon seeing their current speed posted on the backs of potential child victims.

In school zones, even the smallest speeding violation can have the biggest consequences because the victims would be children. The idea was to demonstrate, in a surprising way, the effects that speeding could have on children. The ultimate goal was to get drivers to slow down in school zones, avoiding the worst scenario.

To promote the impacts from this initiative, we favoured using video, as it allowed us to raise awareness through clips and images of the stunt. Creating and physically putting the radar-bag together was exceptionally difficult; due to the complex internal design, developing and integrating the technology for a school-sized bag was a serious challenge. The device had to be fully functional and still be as visible as any other roadside displays. Another challenge was the method of getting the majority of the population to see and hear about the radar bag, in order to highlight the importance of slowing down in school zones. To do so, social media spread, during the back-to-school season, (September 2020) was the ideal choice.

Living radars spurred an immediate media response with 18 million impressions, 10% of organic engagement and 98% positive reactions on social media. The Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec received 5 times the expected demand for the backpack. Moreover, the Québec Police has asked the government for the radar bags to become available in Québec’s elementary schools for fall 2021. But most importantly, Living radars is making the road to school a safer place for the kids.