UK Public Service Announcement Video on Texting While Driving Graphic, Gory, and Necessary
Posted: Monday, August 24, 2009
by Danny Davids
A public service announcement filmed in the UK on the consequences of texting while driving is making the rounds on the Internet. While some are concerned about its graphic content, the filmmakers and police department of Gwent, Wales, hope this will be a wake-up call to the dangers of participating in one of the most widespread causes of automobile accidents among young people today.
The video depicts three teens in a car, driving down the road. The driver, Cassie Cowan, is texting another friend, while her two passengers are giving her conflicting information about whether to stop texting or to continue on. While the three friends argue, the car slips over the median, the girls unaware of their predicament until a car horn makes them look up into the headlights of an oncoming car. Thanks to high-end computer graphics and slow-motion filming, the crash is shown in very realistic detail, as glass shatters, airbags are deployed, and the bodies of the passengers are tossed around inside the vehicle like rag dolls. As the cars finally skid to a broken stop on the road, the driver looks over to the passenger...in time to see a second car approaching. Another crash, showing even more damage, and some very gruesome sound effects. The outcome of this disaster is that four people die in the crash, all because somebody felt it was more important to send a text message to a friend than pay attention to the road while driving.
Police in Gwent were expecting to show the video in schools in and around the immediate area as a deterrent to texting while driving. Eventually they hoped to expand to other parts of Wales and the UK. What they got was worldwide exposure as the video went from their own Web site to others, including YouTube.
You can see the full video here ; but please be warned that it is very graphic and may not be suitable for younger children. Adults who are sensitive to young children being injured may want to forego seeing the video as well.
Some will complain about the graphic footage. However, if a video like this will wake up a few people and make them realize how deadly texting while driving can be, I believe it's worth it.
Police in Gwent were expecting to show the video in schools in and around the immediate area as a deterrent to texting while driving. Eventually they hoped to expand to other parts of Wales and the UK. What they got was worldwide exposure as the video went from their own Web site to others, including YouTube.
You can see the full video here ; but please be warned that it is very graphic and may not be suitable for younger children. Adults who are sensitive to young children being injured may want to forego seeing the video as well.
Some will complain about the graphic footage. However, if a video like this will wake up a few people and make them realize how deadly texting while driving can be, I believe it's worth it.
This Article has been viewed 3,686 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Great article. Well done.I like agree with you. Namby Pambyness does not get through to people. I remember the advert with the little girl dying because someone was going over 30MPH in a town.Lots of videos about people dying for various reasons, but none quite so graphic.
I live in the united states in a small city called Dudley North Carolina. I wish this could be posted at all our High Schools. We to have a lot of kid's dieing in crashes because they have there cell phones on and are texting on them while driving or recieving messages and reading them while they are driving. My daughter is getting her permit in September and I will be showing this to her myself. I think every teen as well as adults should see this. It will make you think and cry at the same time. Thanks for thinking of our children. Mrs.BauerOur kids may be technology-savvy, but many are sorely lacking in the common-sense arena. This is a good way to remind them that just because they feel invincible, it doesn't mean they are. Thanks for your comments.
Danny,This was excellent and the footage, my goodness. This should be shown to all -- in schools as well as on TV.I knew a woman, some years ago, who had an accident on a very dangerous road, was driving too fast, and couldn't stop her Cadillac SUV in time because she was talking on her cell. I was grateful it was a Caddy because my son, along with 4 other children, were with her. Thankfully, the children were okay but she was hurt badly.Of course, she sued and won -- only in America!Thanks for sharing this,NancyNancy, the woman who sued needs to be taken out of the gene pool, as does the judge and jury who allowed her to get away with this!
This is just what the doctor ordered! It has been said that this masterpiece is too violent---Are you kidding? If this issue is dismissed or minimalized, more lives are at risk. BRAVO to the filmmaker. Also, the actresses were superb! Thank-you for a reality check.Obviously the people who feel this video is too violent have not seen any of the R-rated movies their teens watch on a regular basis. Compared to some of them, this is nothing!Daris and Danny,I couldn't agree more with both of you. Show it to them till it hurts. The 'movies' some of our children and youth are watching are horrifying in more respects than one!Nancy
Great Article, Danny. I routinely witness people running stop signs and/or red lights, pulling out in front of other vehicles, etc. all the while talking (not even texting which is MUCH harder) on their cell phones. I hope the message starts to get out!Add to that list, Jean, folks who play with laptops, MP3 players, GPS devices, DVD players, and radios. Anything that takes the driver's concentration off the road is a danger.Oh AND, most of the time the person I see committing the driving errors is completely oblivious to it. They don't even know they did it.
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