For almost a decade, it's been a simple message — if it's flooded, forget it.
But the message has been ignored by many recently, much to the frustration of swiftwater rescuer Noah Littell.
The Toowomba-based senior firefighter has attended at least half a dozen rescues since flooding began in Queensland in November.
From some of those he has saved, instead of gratitude, Mr Littell said he had received attitude and excuses.
"They can usually be a little bit lippy … they try and talk their way out of it once we're there and try to justify it."
The past four months have been deadly in Queensland.
Of the 17 people killed during flooding in 2022, at least 12 deaths have involved people being caught in floodwaters while in their cars.
Nine were men aged between 22 and 76.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Service (QFES) crews also saved more than 60 stranded motorists between November and March.
Safety experts and advocates believe it is time to revamp the road safety campaign.
Men at higher risk
Communications expert Barbara Ryan, from the University of Southern Queensland, said the state government advertising campaign launched in 2015 had been effective in reaching women.
But she said there were still challenges in convincing some men about the dangers of driving through floodwaters.
"Our challenge is to work out how we get through that masculinity sort of shell that protects some people from the effect of this messaging."
Dr Ryan said research conducted for the campaign by QFES found about half the population admitted to driving through floodwater at least once in five years, but only about 7 per cent did it regularly.
"Those 7 per cent will be men who rate their driving ability as above average, or people who drive more than 15 hours a week," she said.
What more could be done?
Mel Taylor is a psychologist and honorary associate professor at Macquarie University who has studied risk-taking behaviour and driving through floodwaters.
Dr Taylor said the "If it's flooded, forget it" phrase was a "catchy, easy thing to say that people remember", but it could be better.
"If you're going back to get your belongings because your house might be flooded, or you're going to get your pets and someone says 'forget it', it's kind of like, 'hang on, you're telling me to forget about my pets?'," she said.
Dr Taylor said emergency services now focused on reminding people to be prepared and take alternative routes, which was better than dismissing people's reasons for considering driving through floodwaters.
She said active signage with flashing lights for flood-prone areas would also be more effective, but it came at significant cost.
"At the social level, I think we can advocate a bit more to our families about the dangers and advocating that passengers in vehicles speak up if they're not comfortable with something that's happened," Dr Taylor said.
Dr Taylor added that disincentives, like fines or invalidating car insurance, could also curb risk-taking behaviour.
Government says campaign successful
A QFES spokesperson said in 2021, research showed recall of the message was high, at 88 per cent.
Fifty-eight per cent of people who have stopped themselves driving through floodwaters were more likely to agree that the campaign had a strong impact on them.
"The 2022 extreme flooding has caught many drivers unaware they were at risk, with anecdotal evidence of fast rising floodwater surrounding cars on previously clear roads or crossings," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said future advertising would focus on challenging driver attitudes, the danger of travelling during severe weather and dangers underneath floodwater, as well as emphasising the need to make an alternative driving plan.
More awareness needed
Road safety advocate Russell White said he believed it was time to intensify the advertising campaign.
"What we've seen with the change in the weather is it has changed so quickly that people just sometimes literally get taken by surprise," he said.
Dr Ryan said she believed any new campaign should work on changing societal attitudes towards driving through floodwater.
"I think it's probably going to be around slowing down," she said.
"There's no shame in changing your mind and turning around and driving away. I think that's probably where the answer will be."
Firefighter Noel Littell said many people, who weren't doing the wrong thing, were being caught out by saturated catchments after months of rain.
Mr Littell said he hoped the message would get through to drivers still ignoring warnings, so he wouldn't have to do the difficult job of pulling bodies from cars in front of families.
"Knowing that a lot of the time, the family is on scene but kept a distance while we're doing our work, it can be a little bit challenging at times, that's probably the hardest bit," he said.
