Insights from Centre research contributed to NSW State Emergency Service’s (SES) Steer Clear campaign, saving lives by finding more effective ways to urge people to reconsider driving through floodwater.
When floodwaters swept through the Illawarra in 2024, young local driver Soad Khaled made a decision that nearly cost her life. Thinking her vehicle was large enough to handle the rising water, she carried on driving.
Her car was quickly swamped, and she survived by holding onto a tree for several hours with her face just above the water until the NSW SES arrived.
It’s a not uncommon scenario reported by NSW SES responders, says NSW SES Community Stakeholder Engagement Officer, Belinda Franklin. With research showing the greatest number of deaths and injuries in floods are linked to driving-related incidents, this behaviour needs to change.
Despite repeated warnings, many people continue to take risks. The Steer Clear campaign seeks to challenge this behaviour and reframe everyday decisions behind the wheel by encouraging drivers to not get swept up in the moment and turn around and find another way.
Manager, Community Strategy and Engagement, Karen Akehurst, says it’s the first NSW SES campaign to incorporate behaviour change science. It combined this with evidence-based tools and operational insights to understand why people behave as they do in floodwater and then target them with messages that might make them think differently. Bureau of Meteorology and Centre researcher Carla Mooney also provided expert knowledge.
For example, the research showed that in many cases, drivers end up in floodwater unintentionally, while others are over-confident in their driving ability or their car’s capabilities.
“The campaign creatives were derived from the evidence-based COM-B behaviour change model, which led us through a process of analysing the capability, opportunity and motivations (COM) behind the behaviour," says NSW SES Community Strategy and Engagement Manager, Karen Akehurst.
“By unpacking the behavioural insights and applying behaviour science to intervention design, we were able to work with a creative agency to design campaign assets that target more directly driver’s motivations.”
The campaign appeals to people’s desire to keep their families safe, with the message that you should always Steer Clear and find another way.
The campaign ran in Sydney Metropolitan, Central Coast and the Illawarra from October to December 2025, reaching 1,923,412 people across various digital platforms.
This impact was informed by research undertaken by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC with expert knowledge provided by Centre researcher, Carla Mooney.
