In India, 17 people die in road accidents every hour, most of them pedestrians making it the road accident capital of the world. And accidents are 5x more likely when it rains with the deadly spike in incidents happening during the monsoon season.

Many of the accidents could be avoided with proper warning signs in high incident areas and general awareness of the issue among both pedestrians and drivers. However, there are not enough warning signs on the road and not enough awareness to be extra careful when it rains. There was also a marked lack of education for drivers and pedestrians on proper road safety habits.

Compounding to the problem was the phenomenon of 'sign blindness' where people 'tune out' everyday sights and signs making them quickly lose relevance.

At the start of India's deadly monsoon season, stories of real accident victims appeared on roads and crossings in Mumbai and Delhi, warning pedestrians to take care when they are about to cross wet roads and advising vehicles to slow down and drive with care when approaching junctions and crossings.

Inspired by real victim stories, these ‘wet signs’ were created using a special hydrophobic liquid sprayed on the road that was invisible when dry, but would appear when wet providing awareness for safety when it was needed most.

The hydrophobic paint was key. It had to be tested on multiple road conditions and be able to withstand pedestrian traffic and heavy rainfall in the monsoon.

Working with Muskaan (A local road safety foundation) we interviewed victims’ family members for their stories. From these, we created a variety of messages which were then cut into stencils. With the support of local traffic authorities, these were then installed at locations in Mumbai and Delhi, sprayed with the hydrophobic paint and left to dry. These signs would remain invisible until the early rains would make the signs appear as road safety signs for the monsoon.

A standard highway font was used for maximum legibility.

A social video and banners led viewers to a website on road safety, with PR helping spread the word to greater online and offline audiences.