‘AFTERMATH’ A mobile display of authentic crashed vehicles, information, and video that illuminates the profound importance of safe decision-making on Vermont’s highways.

Early concept sketch.

Abstract AFTERMATH is a permanent portable demonstration of the potentially catastrophic human and material consequences of unsafe driving decisions. It displays a crashed car, motorcycle, and bicycle, assembled on a trailer with messaging and interactivity. The presentation will become a centerpiece of a collaborative initiative to promote and provide cost-free educational safety programming to Vermont high schools and communities.

Planning session at VTrans District 5 headquarters in Colchester.

Contact James Lockridge, Executive Director Youth Safety Council of Vermont (802) 881-9050, info@yscvt.org

2

‘Telling the story’ effectively and with gravitas is central to the project.

Narrative The primary goal of highway safety efforts is to prevent injury and loss of life on the roadways. A core foundation for highway safety is to educate all drivers with the understanding that focus and safe decision-making is their responsibility and that the results of distraction or poor decision-making can be injury or the tragic loss of human life. Aftermath is a flat trailer with an authentic crashed car, motorcycle and bicycle assembled to it. Static and video displays highlight safety concerns prioritized in Vermont’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan, a document that prioritizes areas of special concern for road safety in the state. The crashed motor vehicles have been acquired with support from the Vermont State Police, and the families of crash victims have given their support to the project. Local Motion, a nonprofit dedicated to making its region more walkable, bikeable, and livable, will help secure a crashed bicycle. Aftermath evokes contemplation of the viewer’s own personal role in relation to others who use our roads. Being witness to the reality of what happens in a crash — and how vulnerable drivers, passengers, and other road users are — will help foster attitudes about safety that might not otherwise be experienced. As attention is captured by the dramatic closeness of the crashes, important information about safety and how driving decisions affect Vermonters will be discovered through banners and video installations.

3

This project creates an opportunity for drivers of all ages and skill levels to experience first-hand an example of the lethal outcomes that are possible when drivers are less than totally focused and responsible. The trailer will be a material ambassador of the Vermont Highway Safety Alliance’s collaborative effort to provide a public inventory of free statewide safety programming that is available to high schools and community groups seeking to elevate the decision-making abilities of their young or student drivers. It will travel to high school campuses, agricultural fairs, public safety events, and through a thoughtfully crafted presentation will educate and affect its audience. The Vermont Highway Safety Alliance (VHSA) is a collaboration of safety-minded organizations, public and private, from across the state. They work together to produce the state’s highway safety plan and host programs that make Vermont’s roads safer, through education, building safer infrastructure, improving or assisting law enforcement efforts, and understanding highway safety data better. Aftermath will be a resource to communities and safety programs throughout the state. As a project of the Vermont Highway Safety Alliance, a public reservation system will be created within a web site that publishes information about the availability of this and other safety programs, displays, presentations, and demonstrations provided by VHSA partners. VTrans, VHSA partners, and the public will have free access to Aftermath as a resource for educational or community events such as fairs, school wellness days, conferences, festivals, graduation celebrations, etc. The trailer will travel with VHSA member organizations as they work together to present safety fair events at Vermont high schools and to inspire schools to develop their own safety fairs. The presentation will be designed and assembled with an artist/craftsperson who is skilled with visual composition and safe, large metal work. The messaging and interactivity will be developed with VHSA partners and contractors with intense thoughtfulness about fostering an improved culture of responsibility and self-awareness among the drivers that view the display.

4

Strategy for Use With towing assistance from VTrans and participating VHSA member organizations, the presentation will travel throughout Vermont. High schools students will benefit from exposure to it throughout the school year, with special focus given to prom and graduation season when young drivers experience significant factors that inhibit safe decision-making, and are heading into the summer months when they are behind the

5

wheel more often. Many high schools and communities are hosting ‘safety’ or wellness fairs, and the team will seek out these opportunities to display the trailer. The project ties into a separate VHSA project that brings together many different free safety demonstrations as a menu that schools can choose from, scheduling them onto their campuses one at a time or several at once. From these resources, schools can create entire safety ‘fairs’ if they choose. The project will try to always be available for these school-driven efforts. A web site for this collaborative safety fair initiative is at https://yscvt.wordpress.com. A target audience for the project is young drivers, but it’s also recognized that parents of young drivers set an example. The team will help Vermont drivers of all experience levels benefit from exposure to the trailer at statewide agricultural fairs and community festivals, improving safe decision-making across generations. Construction Timeline & Budget Phase One creates a functional version that can be safely transported to display the crashed vehicles in an attention-holding arrangement. It’s a basic, first step toward creating our final version, but an immensely critical milestone that all the creative elements will eventually be founded on. The vehicles will be drained of fluids and mounted. Loose parts of the car that are important to the visual display will be secured. The gas tank will be removed. The covers used for transporting the trailer, which is required by law when moving wrecked vehicles, will be configured for regular use. Messages and sponsorships will be conveyed with banners. The team will continue to improve the project design and seek support that will move the project to the next phase of development. This work is expected to be completed by the first week of May, 2017. Phase 1 costs total $5,000.

Phase Two expands the trailer to its ultimate configuration, giving it a formal appearance that is engaging and partly animated with interpretive video. It incorporates a generator and lighting to make it functional in the evening and nighttime. During this phase, a sturdy tubular framework will be constructed for mounting lights, flags, a sound system, and vinyl banners for displaying sponsorships, including a large backdrop. The vehicles

6

will be tilted toward the audience; an electrical system will be installed; and two large monitors for the safety and sponsor video messages will added. A generator will be incorporated to make the trailer displays self-supporting. Sponsor logos will be added to the cover used in transport. Paint will be touched-up, and Aftermath will achieve its original vision and potential. Phase 2 costs total $37,000 and completion is pending funding.

Sponsorship Opportunities Aftermath presents sponsors with the unique opportunity to do both the smart thing and the right thing, in terms of advertising self-promotion and public service education. Sponsoring Aftermath is the smart thing to do because it provides brand awareness unparalleled in Vermont. Sponsoring Aftermath is the right thing to do because it illuminates the profound importance of safe decision-making on Vermont’s highways. Underwriting dollars will go a long way to help make and keep our highways safe while benefitting sponsors with high-profile brand messaging. The Audience Aftermath will attract statewide attention from individuals, organizations and businesses representing a desirable range of demographics — in particular, teenagers and parents of younger children — providing a unique and valuable opportunity to represent a brand and generate a positive marketing ROI. In 2017, the Aftermath crash display will be scheduled to visit high schools beginning in early May with a first appearance at Mt. Abraham Union High School during a campus-wide safety fair that includes many community partners and a large effort to earn press exposure. The Youth Safety Council schedules dozens of Turn Off Texting demonstrations throughout the year at high school campuses and will bring Aftermath to many of them. Community safety events are presented across Vermont; the Aftermath team will be reaching out to their coordinators. With Phase 2 completed, Aftermath will be presented at agricultural fairs across the state, too. Phase 1 Sponsorship

7

Two, two-sided banner sponsorships are available to help us get Aftermath on the road in raw form and in front of audiences. Each sponsorship includes a large banner on each side of the display and inclusion in outreach to the public for a term of one year: 1. Two, 2’ x 6’ Trailer-Side Banners

When Aftermath is in travel mode, these banners function like moving billboards. When the presentation is set up in display mode, the banners will arrest attention from everyone passing by and be in everyone’s line of sight as they view Aftermath .

2. Marketing Communications

Sponsorship includes mention and/or logo placement in a variety of VHSA marketing communications to statewide highway safety partners and the public:

■ Project launch event and scheduled appearance media releases; ■ Promotional collateral: Posters and fliers and social media; ■ Featured in the VHSA web site news, projects and resources sections,

www.highwaysafety.org; ■ Featured on the VHSA Facebook page: @Highwaysafetyvt ■ Highlighted in statewide highway safety newsletters.

Phase 1 Sponsorship is $2,750 per two-banner set, per year. Phase 2 Sponsorship Phase 2 sponsorships will help fulfill the vision for Aftermath , providing resources for construction and creating video interpretation that will achieve the project’s educational potential. Aftermath will become a unique safety resource that a sponsor can be proud of for its engineering and commitment to helping Vermonters become conscientious drivers. With this support, a sponsor will be making our roads safer for everyone. Phase 2 sponsorship options include: 1. Elevated Display Banners

A logo and messaging will be prominently featured on one of four highly visible elevated vinyl banners (30” x 48”) and the sponsor will be included in marketing communications described below (#6). $5,000 per year.

2. Backdrop Wall

Logo messaging on the billboard-sized vinyl display backdrop (5’ x 18’). The sponsor will also be included in marketing communications described below (#6). $10,000 per year.

3. Video Messaging

8

The Aftermath display includes two 60” video displays featuring highway safety information interpretation of the displayed vehicles. The video presentations include 15-second, 30-second, and 60-second sponsor-provided video advertisements between the continuously looping safety segments. (15 seconds: $500 per year; 30 seconds: $750 per year; 60 seconds: $1,000 per year. The sponsor will also be included in marketing communications described below (#6).

4. Teardrop Banners

A sponsor’s 1’ x 1’ logo is prominently displayed on one of three, two-sided teardrop banners mounted on poles. $500 per year. The sponsor will also be included in marketing communications described below (#6).

5. Pennants

A 1’ x 1’ sponsor logo is dramatically displayed on one of three two-sided pennants atop poles. $500 per year. The sponsor will also be included in marketing communications described below (#6).

6. Marketing Communications Sponsorship includes mention and/or logo placement in a variety of VHSA marketing communications to statewide highway safety partners and the public:

■ Project launch event and scheduled appearance media releases; ■ Promotional collateral: Posters and fliers and social media; ■ Featured in the VHSA web site news, projects and resources sections,

www.highwaysafety.org; ■ Featured on the VHSA Facebook page: @Highwaysafetyvt ■ Highlighted in statewide highway safety newsletters.

(The Aftermath team will ask for digital files of sponsor logo artwork.)

9

Project Status 2017 Winter: ‘Aftermath’ was given a name. Its design, budget, and a presentation were finalized, and sponsorship opportunities were created. Fundraising for Phase 1 began in earnest and the first public appearance was scheduled. 2016 Summer: The trailer design was refined as crashed vehicles were united with it. The messaging that will be displayed began to take form as the stories about the crash of each vehicle were researched. The project was strategized to occur in phases, and budgets were drafted. The personality or ‘brand’ of the trailer took shape, influenced by the gravitas of the crashes that are represented. First outreach to potential supporters and sponsors began. 2016 Spring: With support from the Vermont Office of Highway Safety, a SureTrac 7'x18'+4' 14K tilt bed trailer was purchased. The Vermont State Police provided a crashed 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier and a 1982 Kawasaki LTD550 motorcycle, with the approval of the Larue and Blair families, vehicle owners and next of kin to crash victims.

10

The crashed car at the Royalton State Police Barracks impound lot.

11

Key Personnel

Aaron Stein & Ken Millman.

James Lockridge is Executive Director of the Youth Safety Council of Vermont, has developed and managed youth programs since 1996. He serves on a Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership advisory committee, The King Street Neighborhood Revitalization Corporation board of directors and several local community-building collaborations. Jim also volunteers at Big Heavy World, an independent music office and community radio station. He is coordinating the project. Ken Millman is a writer and creative director with extensive experience in the disciplines of marketing, branding and advertising. For this project, Ken is contributing to the overall creative character and quality of the content, and he is leading the message development and production components. Ken has conceived, developed and produced an impressive range of exhibit displays and corresponding multi-media messaging for such clients as: Draker Labs, New England Coffee Company, Northfield Savings Bank, Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing and Vermont Energy Investment Corporation. www.spikeadvertising.com Aaron Stein is a design-builder with a specialty in transportation-related projects. Aaron has managed all phases of project design, estimation, administration, fabrication, and contractor relations. His portfolio includes fabrication of human-powered craft vending booths; conversion of a tractor trailer into a mobile workshop, gallery, and home; and

12

conversion of a 1968 Airstream trailer into a mobile art gallery. He received a BFA in Industrial Design and a Bachelors of Landscape Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design and founded Revival Studio in 1998, located in the South End Arts District of Burlington, Vermont, www.revivalstudio.com

James Lockridge & Aaron Stein.

13