The Australian Football League is televised on several national TV stations. Each game is covered extensively in the media, including before and after the game football shows. This allowed the Wipe Off 5 message to be seen by millions of football fans across the country.

People are unaware of the dangers associated with low level speeding (eg. travelling 1-9 kms over the speed limit) as a result, speed continued to be the number one killer on Victorian roads.

Driving 5km over the speed limit doubles the risk of crashing.

- Road Accident Research, University of Adelaide

Knowing that driving 5kms over the speed limit doubles the risk of crashing, we needed to encourage drivers to slow down and wipe 5 kilometres off their speed.

The Transport Accident Commission teamed up with the Australian Football League to wipe off the 5 from the 50 meter arc to remind people to wipe off 5 km next time they were behind the wheel. The ground markings were altered on every football field of every match across the state, reaching Victorians both at the game as well as the millions watching at home.

A TV commercial starring legendary number 5 players who wiped the 5s off their own guernseys, was aired before the stunt. Match day activity around the ground asked football fans to post ‘Wipe off 5’ pictures of the changed markings.

This weekend long event sparked a chain reaction in the media and online, seeing football fans working together to reduce the road toll by wiping off 5 on the roads and in their own community. Their ideas about lowering the road toll were entered on the Wipe Off 5 website, in the hope of being implemented in schools and on the streets.

The 5 was wiped off the 50 metre arc for all games during the 22nd round of the Australian Football League. Each game is televised on several national stations, exposing over 2 million Australians on average per game to each stunt. This was the first time in history that on ground markings were changed for a road safety message, therefore the campaign received extensive media coverage before, during and after the event. Along with the broadcasted matches, a TV commercial showing that the 5’s were wiped off the 50 metre arcs continued to promote wiping off 5km on the roads.

After the campaign, a record 88% of Victorians now defined speeding as anything up to 5km over the speed limit.

By the end of September 2013, the number of Victorian drivers who claimed to exceed the speed limit all or most of the time decreased to 9% from 14% at the beginning of August, when the Wipe Off 5 campaign launched.

There were 31,000 less speeding fines issued than the same time the previous year.

In the 6 months that followed, Victoria’s road toll was at its lowest in 90 years.