Love Bug campaign among efforts to make roads safer

State officials hope a yellow cartoon Love Bug will drive greater safety on Delaware roads.

The Delaware Office of Highway Safety held a town hall-style meeting April 23 at Delaware Tech’s Owens Campus in Georgetown to discuss its work to improve safety on roads, and to gather suggestions and comments for future efforts.

It was the second town hall held, and will be followed by a remote meeting and one in New Castle, said Sharon Bryson, OHS director.

The Love Bug campaign, a play on the popular Volkswagen Beetle commonly known as the Bug, has been used for about five years, Bryson said.

The program was tweaked to add the slogan, “Love Your Neighbor,” because everyone is, in a way, a neighbor on the road, she said.

The Love Bug campaign is not yet widely recognized by the public, according to feedback from many of the about 40 people who attended the town hall.

Bryson said it has been featured on social media and at several community events across the state. There are ongoing discussions on whether to shift the focus of the campaign, she said, and public comments could help influence that decision.

One goal is localizing the campaign by linking it to specific communities. Signs targeted toward Georgetown, Millsboro and Seaford were on display at the meeting.

Other topics touched on during the meeting included motorcycles, pedestrians, vehicle occupant safety, speeding, and drivers impaired by alcohol and other substances.

People at the meeting suggested venues for getting out the highway safety message, such as concert sites, speedways and schools.

Barbara Conley, a retired Delaware State Police trooper who was the agency’s director of traffic, recommended a stronger, punchier message to have more effect. She gave the example of the seatbelt safety message that increased seat belt usage.

“The Love Bug is cute and everything, and I could see it hitting certain people, but I always thought a harder message, like Click It or Ticket, puts it into that 90% range,” Conley said.

She also suggested publicizing the financial cost of a drunk driving charge defense as a possible deterrent. That includes fines, court costs, attorney fees and increased insurance rates.

Innovative solutions to making the roads safer are being developed, the town hall organizers said.

For example, with the financial support of sponsors, the state offered vouchers for free Uber and Lyft rides for holidays commonly associated with drinking alcohol, such as New Year’s Eve and St. Patrick’s Day. That helped to discourage drinking and driving.

“You want to keep enforcing that behavior,” said Michael Cordrey, account director of the Behavior Change Division of AB&C Creative, which developed the Love Bug campaign.

“So instead of telling people what the problem is, we’re giving them a solution, too,” Cordrey said, noting the vouchers were passed out at bars and restaurants.