The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) has unveiled the winners of its 2025 Split Second competition, celebrating two young filmmakers who are helping to pave the way in reshaping communication around road safety.
The Split Second competition provides a platform for emerging Victorian filmmakers, aged 18 to 30, to share bold concepts designed specifically for young drivers. The winning creatives each receive $5,000 in prize money, as well as a $45,000 production budget to bring their concepts to life, an opportunity that can be career-defining for emerging filmmakers.
This year’s winners, Shane Senanayake and Stacey Park, impressed judges by tackling common road safety issues, like low-level speeding and seatbelt use, through comedy and culture, ensuring these important messages don’t go unheard by their peers. Their work demonstrates that road safety messaging doesn’t have to rely on ‘shock tactics’ to make an impact.
Creative risks pay off; road safety risks do not
Melbourne-based filmmaker Shane Senanayake was “beyond excited” upon hearing of his success in the competition. With a background in accounting, Shane made the switch to filmmaking to pursue his creative passions. He says it was his “love of problem-solving” that drove him to enter Split Second, but he never expected to win.
Shane’s film, Unusual Behaviours, uses satirical comedy to compare driving without a seatbelt to growing up in a town where no one wears pants – his message to viewers is that one of these (not wearing a seatbelt) is never optional.
“To now be working on an ad of this scale, with such an important purpose, feels like the opportunity of a lifetime,” he says.
Born in Seoul and raised in Melbourne, Stacey Park (both a filmmaker and a junior doctor) is passionate about public safety.
“I am very proud to have won the TAC Split Second competition,” she says. “It offers a unique opportunity to apply my creativity and cultural perspective to shape public safety messaging that genuinely resonates with young people.”
Her script, Keep the Tempo, utilises the traditional Korean art of drumming (samulnori) to highlight the dangers of low-level speeding by reminding viewers how even a slight increase in speed can throw things off course. Just as musicians must stay in sync to maintain harmony, drivers must maintain the correct speed to keep themselves and others safe.
Many drivers assume that travelling just a few kilometres over the limit is harmless. However, even small increases in speed significantly raise both the likelihood of a crash and the severity of injuries sustained.
Empowering the next generation
The Split Second competition exists to empower young storytellers to drive change within their own communities. Rather than relying on traditional advertising methods, the initiative recognises that young drivers are far more likely to respond to messages that come from their peers.
Adjusting to Australian road rules, navigating unfamiliar traffic conditions and balancing full social lives with work and study can all impact how safe young drivers are behind the wheel. For international students and young drivers across Victoria and the country, these films offer an important reminder: road safety may not always feel urgent in the moment, but even the smallest lapse in judgment, like skipping a seatbelt or creeping over the speed limit, can have life-altering consequences.
By encouraging students and young people to watch and share the winning films, the TAC hopes to start conversations that will go further than the screen and stay with viewers for a long time to come.
