Texting while driving: not a good idea. I know, I know, a lot of us do it – as well as send emails, tweets, status updates and so forth – and in the moment it can seem fairly harmless, but the truth is (as studies have shown): texting while driving is just as dangerous as driving drunk. Your senses may not be as impaired, but your reaction times are just as bad. But don’t just listen to me – I’m only a blogger!
So, bringing the point home is a new (and graphic) Public Service Announcement – PSA – created by the police department in Gwent, Wales. Aired this morning on The Today Show, the video has since gone viral online, with thousands upon thousands watching the video every hour.
The reason for the video’s sudden surge in popularity? Well, the Gwent Police Department is hoping it’s due to parents showing their teens – which probably is true, in part – but the more probable cause is the video’s eye for graphic detail as well as its gruesome images of death. After all, there’s a reason Hollywood is still making Saw movies: people like to see gory shit. And the texting while driving PSA, has that. Lots of it, in fact.
Featuring a teen driver who is – not to surprisingly – texting while driving, the PSA shows a horrific car crash that leaves two of the drivers’ friends dead as well as the two parents in the oncoming car. And it shows every detail.
The question, though, is will this video work? The Scared Straight approach has long been debunked as ineffectual. Yet, I don’t know, it certainly has given me pause. While I was never a prolific texter & driver, I have done it from time to time, but after watching the video … well, it might be a while before I do it again. What do you think?
Here’s the video, but be warned, it is not for the faint of heart:
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