Australian town becomes SpeedKills in safety campaign
Speed is becoming SpeedKills and resident Phil Down becomes Phil Slow Down
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A small town in the Australian has decided to change it name for a month in a bid to boost road safety.
The town of Speed - a blink-and-you'd-miss-it town in the countryside of Victoria - will be known as SpeedKills.
Speed-dwellers are hoping it will persuade drivers to slow down on country roads.
Speed is hoping to become something of a global, internet sensation with the launch of this novel safety campaign.
The idea was the brainchild of the Victoria Transport Accident Commission, which soon won over Speed's 45 residents.
Such was their enthusiasm, that they even made a video as part of the campaign.
It has already proved a hit on the social networking site, Facebook.
The town of Speed has managed a name change with the help of the internet
While the campaign is running, one local resident has even agreed to change his own name.
Phil Down, a local wheat and sheep farmer, will become Phil Slow Down.
It is hoped the idea will catch on around the world.
Road safety officials in Victoria have already identified five towns in the United States called Speed which it hopes will support name changes of their own.
The residents of , a small town in the south-east of Australia, have made the decision to modify the name of the town for one month in an attempt to improve road safety in the country. The name of the town will be adjusted to SpeedKills across next month.

The idea was created by the . A campaign was launched on the social networking website Facebook, saying that if 10,000 'liked' the campaign page, the name of the town — which has a population of 45 — would be changed. 'Rename Speed' has now gone on to achieve over 33,000 likes.

Previously,  had used various advertising campaigns in an attempt to get motorists to reduce speed. However, these campaigns were in large part unsuccessful. In 2010, Australia experienced a 25% increase in deaths on rural roads . TAC spokesperson Phil Reed has stated that, with this new name change campaign, "we're trying to get people to stay within the speed limits, obey road safety rules" and cause motorists to "realise that when they don't, people die".

One inhabitant of Speed has also made the decision to change his name during March. Phil Down, who grows wheat and raises sheep, has decided to change his name to Phil Slow Down. Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Down explained: "It's virtually on the road to somewhere else, so we've taken our quirky name and run with it to bring the attention to the campaign of trying to get people to slow down on country roads and especially through small towns".