Jack is a fictional 24-year-old New Zealand man who works as an electrician. His story follows an ordinary journey that leads to a serious crash, then explores emergency response, treatment, rehabilitation and longer-term recovery.

No. Jack is fictional and does not depict or recreate a real or identifiable person, patient, survivor or individual crash. His story is informed by evidence and by people with lived experience of road trauma.

As explained in the book’s chapter “Why Jack Looks the Way He Does”, his appearance has been deliberately considered so that he looks like a believable, relatable young New Zealand man. His build is healthy and relatively lean rather than heavily muscular. His clothing is practical, contemporary and appropriate for his age, occupation and rural lifestyle. His hairstyle reflects current styles among young men.

Details such as his hair, footwear, clothing, body shape and posture help make him feel familiar—someone you might know. His AI-generated appearance is intended to be contemporary and recognisably New Zealand, with relatability without stereotyping. He does not represent any one individual’s experience.

Introducing Jack is an evidence-informed public health campaign created to make road-trauma evidence easier to understand through a human story. The campaign connects prevention through safe system principles with patient-centred care from the point of a crash onwards, showing the wider effects on a person’s life, work and whānau.

National road-trauma data informed Jack’s age and gender. His fictional circumstances were then designed to explore fatigue, rural roads, survivability and recovery. His age and gender do not mean that every young man has the same risks or that road trauma affects only this group.

The Road Traffic Accident Trauma Charitable Trust trading as National Road Trauma Centre, developed the campaign. The project brings together input from road safety research, clinical practice, communications, digital marketing, vehicle and driving expertise, weather intelligence and lived experience.

The campaign launches on 1 November 2026 as part of the inaugural National Road Trauma Awareness Month. It is for the general population.

Some resources and aspects of the campaign have been tailored for road users, particularly younger drivers, as well as whānau, friends, employers, rural communities and professionals working across prevention, emergency response, healthcare and recovery.

No. Jack is deliberately not speeding, drinking alcohol or using his phone. Fatigue is the central human factor in his fictional crash. This allows the story to explore how a familiar journey can become dangerous even when other commonly discussed risks are absent.

No. The story recognises both personal responsibility and shared responsibility. People can make mistakes, and the human body has limited tolerance to crash forces. Safer roads, vehicles, speeds and road use, together with workplace practices, all have a role in preventing death and serious injury.

It means designing and managing the road system around human vulnerability. Road design, vehicles, speeds and road use need to work together so that a mistake is less likely to result in death or serious injury. Jack’s story connects that prevention approach with the care people need when injury occurs.

No. Being within the limit does not make every crash survivable. Crash circumstances, the road environment, the vehicle and the forces reaching the body all matter. Jack’s story illustrates human vulnerability; it does not provide a precise reconstruction or a calculation of injury risk.

It means understanding the person behind the injuries and involving them in decisions about their care. Jack’s journey connects emergency response, hospital treatment, primary care, rehabilitation, psychological recovery and whānau support, including the practical effects on daily life and work.

No. Jack illustrates one possible journey. Injuries, access to care, rehabilitation, support and recovery differ between people. His story is not a prediction of another person’s outcome or a timetable for returning to work, driving or other activities.

No. Road trauma affects people living with injuries, as well as bereaved families and whānau. Jack explores one survivor’s journey. He cannot represent every injury, recovery experience or loss, and his story does not suggest that recovery is straightforward or that everyone returns to their previous life.

No. It is public education. Jack’s injuries, treatment and recovery have been constructed for a fictional story. Anyone seeking advice about their own health, recovery or return to work should speak with their treating health professional.

The supporting material draws on New Zealand crash and injury statistics, national trauma reports, published research and guidance relevant to the issues explored. These sources inform the story’s context; they are not measurements of a real crash involving Jack. The book contains the supporting reference list.

Introducing Jack is an evidence-informed public education book developed with clinical, research and other specialist input. Its references identify the published evidence informing the story. Jack’s individual circumstances remain fictional, and specialist contributions should be understood within each contributor’s area of expertise.

Artificial intelligence was used to create Jack’s appearance and campaign imagery as part of a human-directed storytelling process. The images are illustrations, not photographs of a real person or records of an actual crash. AI-generated imagery is not clinical evidence.

A fictional character allows the campaign to explore a connected journey without presenting one person’s experience as the experience of everyone affected by road trauma. AI supports the visual storytelling. The distinction between fiction, published evidence and lived-experience input remains essential.

No. A contributor’s professional role or affiliation does not, by itself, establish endorsement by their employer or any public agency. Any statement of organisational endorsement must be separately confirmed.

Follow the National Road Trauma Centre’s campaign updates and visit www.roadtrafficaccidenttrust.org.nz to learn more about Jack and his journey.

Contact Sarah Dean, Founder and Trustee, at sarah@nationalroadtraumacentre.org.nz or 027 324 0918. If the story brings up difficult feelings, consider speaking with someone you trust or a health professional.