Spotify users in Queensland will hear messages reminding them to slow down when they’re near school zones— but only free account holders are part of the trial.
Starting on Wednesday, the Australian Road Safety Foundation has partnered with the audio platform that’s constantly adding features to serve Queensland drivers songs that have a “slow down” message edited into them, Nine papers report.
While rolled out statewide, the program uses geo-targeting technology to direct these messages only to people who are within five kilometres of a school zone.
Rather than using advertisements, the scheme uses 10 songs that were donated by Queensland artists have been edited to include messages.
The songs begin normally before slowing down to 10% of the speed, playing the message, and then speed up to finish. These edited tracks are automatically placed into Queensland user’s playlists.
Interestingly, the songs will only be placed in the playlists of Spotify Free users. Premium users, it is reported, are unaffectedly, weirdly enough.
Australian Road Safety Foundation CEO Russell White said the scheme could be rolled out nationally if it works.
“The thing for us will be feedback from individual schools, general public feedback and gauging the level of interest of people to engage in this outside of the trial period,” he told Nine papers.
“The thing about road safety reminders is continually reinventing them, because people ignore the signs or don’t see the signs in school zones.
“When we’re dealing with the most vulnerable road user group, we need to come up with innovative ways to remind drivers.”
There are questions about what the user experience is like, particularly for those who live in smaller towns or who reside in close proximity to schools.
But the trial shows an innovative approach to getting people to pay attention to the road rules — time will tell whether it’s effective or not.