UK 'Texting While Driving' PSA causes stir

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shannon2008

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/25/texting-while-driving-psa_n_268482.html

The more than 4-minute video, which shows a group of teenage girls getting into a head-on collision while the driver of the car text messages, has caused some strong reactions due to its graphic nature, with some people asking if it goes too far.
Click to expand...
This is a very graphic PSA, but in my opinion it is realistic. It is no worse than what some teens watch every day on TV/movies (like The Final Destination) or in video games.

When I was in high school we had live reenactments in badly crashed vehicles. Not for texting but for drinking and driving.

Sometimes I think we have to be hyper-realistic like above mentioned entertainments in order to get a serious message to teens today. On the other hand, sometimes things like this go too far and the teens won't take it seriously. Trying to scare them can backfire.
 
I think this PSA is genius!

It takes a lot to get through to some people... Remember the serial coffee commercials? I would like to see "chapters" added to this ad:

#2 The families learn of the accident & deaths

#3 Funerals are planned

#4 The driver learns she is quadreplegic

#5 she must deal with guilt & peers who blame her for their friends' deaths

and so on.

That seems harsh, but it happens in real life..... maybe the "reality" craze in tv should spill over into commercials.
 
This one (Or one similiar) came to my mailbox and I thought it was very helpful and gets the message through that it is trying to convey. No need for a stir. I think as stated we watched drunk driving and drug videos in school so this is important for this era. I don't feel it will backfire. I hope it does teach those not to text and drive.


Gozgals
 
I agree. I think this is a well done PSA and I hope we can get one like it here in America. I feel the more graphic the better. People see fantasy on television every day, we need a good dose of reality.

I don't know if it's illegal there (my sound wasn't working for the video) but in Illinois texting while driving becomes illegal January 1, 2010.
 
We should start a poll on this one. I think this ad will be very effective and should certainly stay on the air and be shown in high schools, colleges and universities.
 
Oh, I agree with you all that they need to be showing this more. I think the company that produced this should make a deal with schools all over the world.

In my initial post I was trying to see both sides of the story. I can kind of see the other side, but I think that the pros of this outweighs the cons.:clap:
 
noZme said:
I think this PSA is genius!

It takes a lot to get through to some people... Remember the serial coffee commercials? I would like to see "chapters" added to this ad:

#2 The families learn of the accident & deaths

#3 Funerals are planned

#4 The driver learns she is quadreplegic

#5 she must deal with guilt & peers who blame her for their friends' deaths

and so on.

That seems harsh, but it happens in real life..... maybe the "reality" craze in tv should spill over into commercials.
Click to expand...

I saw the producer of this spot interviewed and apparently this is intended to be the first part of a series that together will run about 30 minutes. If I recall correctly there is to be a scene at the hospital where the driver's father encounters the mother of the other driver. It's a very effective PSA and long overdue.
 
They run very graphic and scary PSA's in NYC as part of the NY Quits (smoking) campaign and they are very effective.

I think the UK PSA is totally appropriate and a much needed dose of reality.
 
I think it's appropriate, but I do believe it's too long. I think a shorter PSA would have had more of an impact. This felt more like the end of a Lifetime movie and I briefly forgot what led to the crash.

I have no problem with the graphicness of it all. I just think it would have been more effective had it ended with it, instead of kinda peetering out. I do like the 'chapters' idea.
 
My oldest son showed me this PSA. I thought it was well done.
 
In my town it becomes illegal to talk on a cell phone while driving in any school district but they aren't going to enforce it because they say they don't have $2,500 to put up the signs around schools. But, I have to get a booster seat for a 7 1/2 to only use for about a month according to some new law where the kid has to be either 8 years old, 4'9", or 80-100 lbs. Very few under age 8, or even well over age 8 are that big. It's ridiculous
 
This looks like something they used to do at my old high school, called "Every 15 minutes" , where they would choose students from the class, film a mock drunk driving incident, and reenact it in person (usually on a football field or such). they'd bring two totalled cars to the field and fake blood and all that.

http://www.every15minutes.com/aboutus/

it seems like a great idea at first, but the truth is that most kids forget about these PSAs, and programs like "Every 15 Minutes".

this PSA from Ireland actually struck me as more intense:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faqLhbAjTJU
 
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