How behavioural science helped Avanti West Coast cut accidents by 80%
By taking an insight-led approach to its safety messaging, the rail operator cut accidents and drunken assaults across its stations.
From 2021 to early 2024, 77% of all railway passenger accidents on the West Coast Main Line occurred at stations managed by Avanti West Coast.
Data showed more than half of accidents were slips, trips or falls, the primary causes being public error and intoxication. The rail operator needed a new strategy to get commuters to pay attention.
Having developed a series of priority messages, Avanti West Coast teamed up with behavioural science expert Richard Shotton to uncover new ways to present this messaging.
One technique was to leverage pareidolia, the psychological phenomenon of seeing patterns in random objects. Avanti used images of objects in the station building with a similar appearance to eyes and mouths for a suite of posters and largescale artworks aimed at grabbing attention. Light-hearted headlines appeared alongside the safety messages, such as ‘I just want to be held’ for a poster about holding the handrail.
The campaign launched across 16 stations, with new waves of activity going live around busy travel periods such as Christmas. Bespoke decals were created for Stafford station, while the entire campaign was brought together under the tagline: ‘Take Care. Get There’.
Avanti West Coast also created a low-alcohol beer named ‘Safety Thirst’, which was promoted via a social video featuring a choir of staff reminding customers to take care when enjoying a festive drink.
The safety push drove a 44% decrease in slips, trips and falls at stations year on year, as well as zero intoxication-related assaults during the 2024 festive period. Winner of the 2025 Marketing Week Award for Best Use of Market Research, Analytics and Insight, Avanti West Coast delivered an 80% decrease in accidents at Stafford station within four weeks of launch.
