Traffic safety organisation VNN is starting a television campaign against bad behaviour in traffic for the first time in 18 years, the Telegraaf reports.

In an interview with the paper, new VNN director Evert-Jan Hulshof  said the tv ads will concentrate on safer behaviour such as making a hand signal before a turn, slowing down in a built-up area and keeping traffic knowledge updated.

Speed is still the biggest killer, Hulshof said, and half of victims die in urban areas. ‘If we can manage to bring down speeds by one or two kilometres per hour in residential areas that alone could account for 30 fewer deaths a year,’ he told the paper.

Hulshof said only a 100% chance of being caught and fined would deter road hogs and other badly behaved drivers.

‘But that is not possible so we have to remind people of their responsibility,’ he said. ‘It may sound soft but the fact is it’s overconfidence, indifference and lack of skill that can make the difference between life and death. That is something we as a society must refuse to accept,’ the paper quoted him as saying.