San José is a city designed for cars. And its streets are dangerous. A hard-hitting and emotional campaign to reduce deaths in traffic crashes there is part of the City’s Vision Zero, aiming to reduce traffic deaths to zero.

With just 20% more population, San José has almost twice the number of annual traffic deaths as does neighboring San Francisco. That’s people in cars hitting each other, and also hitting pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcycle riders.

In research, more than 90% of the city’s population identified as drivers and they described themselves as impatient, in a hurry—and not really aware of the dangers of exceeding the speed limit. Most of the speeding and deadly crashes were on the surface street arterials, which have posted speed limits of 35-45mph. So even going over the speed limit slightly—which most did not think of as actually speeding—puts you at near-freeway speeds. And that’s a deadly speed.

Based on both quantitative and qualitative research, the “Slow Down, San José” campaign, delivered over 12 weeks, reminded drivers of the importance of sticking to the speed limit. Since most of us are concentrating on driving, where we have to go, how fast we have to get there, and whatever podcast or music we’re listening too, the message had to be grasped immediately: 

“Slow Down, San José.” 

The colors stark: safety yellow, black and San José teal. The visuals emotional: a single shoe and empty bicycle helmet roll into a skid mark. A tag line sums it up: “Tragedy Only Takes a Second.”

To reach a citywide audience, the campaign was delivered in English, Spanish and Vietnamese, the most commonly spoken languages in San José. The campaign ran on radio, billboards, buses and transit shelters; via digital display, streaming audio and video; and on social media on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok—with a $150,000 media buy. Across these media and a campaign launch press conference, the message earned more than 28 million impressions—in a city of just 1 million residents. Quantitative post-campaign research showed 40% of residents recognized the campaign, and drivers who saw it report that they are now slowing down their driving speed.