TARGA NEWFOUNDLAND

[Robert Giannou]

ST. JOHN’S (August 14, 2012) – Motorsport fans from across town and across the continent will get a reminder when they flock to see the colourful cars and fierce competition of Targa Newfoundland 2012: Be a smart spectator and put your safety first when watching the action.

The safety message, captured in six easy-to-remember points, will be reinforced on posters and road closure signs, in newsletters, the free spectator programs and in advertising ahead of the start of the 11th annual Targa rally on Sunday, September 9, 2012. The reminder is part of Targa’s “culture of safety” program created earlier this year to spread the word.

The campaign will remind fans:

Be a smart spectator.
Stand at least 10 metres from the road
Choose high ground
Never stand on the outside of a turn
Never stand behind red tape
Always stand – Never sit down to watch
Counsel others!
Think Safety!

“Targa has hundreds of thousands of spectators, many of whom make excellent choices and apply a good and healthy measure of common sense and consideration,” explains Janet Brake, Targa’s Operations Training Manager. “We have seen them on the stages – up on hills, behind hard obstructions, and well back from the road surface. This is the kind of behavior we want to encourage.”

Brake, the driving force behind the campaign, says that Targa’s hundreds of volunteer marshals will also be spreading the word. When marshals direct spectators to move to safer locations, Brake believes they’ll cooperate.

“When we ask fans to practice safe spectating, we believe they’ll get the message,” Brake says.

Targa organizers reviewed every aspect of the event’s safety plan for 2012 to ensure it meets the highest standards following an incident last year in which a spectator was injured -- the first incident involving an injury to a spectator in the event’s 10-year history. That review confirmed the need to continually remind spectators of the need to play a role in their own safety.

Owned and operated by Newfoundland International Motorsports Limited, Targa Newfoundland is one of three internationally recognized Targa motorsports events in the world. The 2012 competition starts in St. John’s on September 8 and concludes back in the capital on September 15. The 11th annual rally will cover more than 2,000 kilometres of the challenging, twisty roads of the central and eastern portion of Newfoundland, including up to 450 kilometres of closed-road, flat-out Targa stages.