The World’s Most Over-The-Top PSA Warns Not To Text And Drive

xifeng882
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 02:24 pm: [report]

mmmmm. way too much.

Claireific
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 02:26 pm: [report]

This is the scariest, most graphic video you’ve ever seen? Really? That’s surprising.
But nevertheless, I think it’s entirely appropriate. Texting while driving is incredibly dangerous; not only does your brain start to divert blood away from the areas that focus on driving to areas that help you send texts, you tend to physically move your eyes off of the road. As someone whose mother was killed in a car accident which was the fault of the other driver, who was being reckless, I think this video is great. Let it scare people a little. It shocks me how cavalier people are about driving recklessly. I think it may take a sharp reminder of the consequences to get them to put the phone down.

CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 02:29 pm: [report]

Saw this today on Reddit. They have now begun a campaign to imprison the people involved.

Mentally Challenged Man Beaten to Death [NSFW] Lets bring this criminal to justice!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIoFxPLJBZE

Squidtermz
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 02:31 pm: [report]

I agree with Claireific I’ve almost killed myself doing dumb crap on my phone in a car. Imagine if I wasn’t so awesome and coordinated… there would be accidents galore!

writergirl
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 02:34 pm: [report]

I’m with Claireific on this one.  I think it is totally appropriate. I think it should be used for more than teens though.  I’d love to show it to all the women in my neighborhood who apparently can’t even start the car without jumping on their cells to talk and text.

H. Blue
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 02:34 pm: [report]

I think it’s entirely appropriate as well. People have trouble talking while driving, nevermind texting.  I think people need this kind of imagery to get their acts together and start paying attention to the road.  Sadly, I don’t think it’ll really help.

maroon
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 02:48 pm: [report]

After living in the same zip code as the families who lost their 5 daughters during graduation weekend because the girl at the wheel was texting while passing over a double yellow line, this is entirely appropriate.  If teens can sit through videos of why it’s a bad idea to disobey railroad crossings (my traumatic viewing including a leg flying at a security camera), then this more than relevant video should teach them a very important lesson.

joyy
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 02:57 pm: [report]

I think they should show this to everyone every time they renew their driver’s license, not just to teens.  The number of people I see holding up cell phones and not paying attention is unbelievable (and extra scary now that I’m bike commuting on a daily basis).

maroon
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 03:01 pm: [report]

@joyy- i think this is a good idea.  i also commute on a bike, in a college town.  it’s quite scary.  and while my state has a hands-free law, it’s never or rarely enforced, which is a shame because we’d be making a fortune off of these college kids who think they’re invincible.

joyy
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 03:04 pm: [report]

@maroon - I’m in a college town too, and unfortunately my biggest beef with the students in particular is the ones who WALK straight out in front of me.  Makes me wonder about the admission standards if the average student hasn’t mastered looking both ways before crossing the street.

justme
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 03:07 pm: [report]

My grade school was next to a railroad.  Every year we had an assembly where we had to watch the video of the nice kids playing on the train tracks.  At the end of the video there is a shocking shot of the girl strapped a gurney covered in blood and her body jerks.  Kids as young as 1st grade were watching this.  It was the most effective lesson I was ever shown.  I’m still pretty sure even when I see stationary trains that they are just sitting there waiting to kill me.
It is harder and harder to shock people these days but that is what you need to do to get their attention.  I’m in favor of this video.

Silliemunkie
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 03:14 pm: [report]

some people will never get it, that is why something has to be graphic, to get their attention. but some people never get it, and will end up hurting someone. We actually need more of these videos, depicting how your actions can affect others in a tragic way. My neighbors co-worker, and best friend was just killed by a drunk driver the other day. Turns out this was her 3rd offense. Proving that some people just don’t get it. Today’s society breeds people who don’t really care about others. It’s sad, but it’s becoming more of a reality everyday.

Jenn27549
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 03:19 pm: [report]

People already know this.  Maybe some (particularly teens) may be scared into not doing it b/c of a video like that, but I doubt many will. Teens and adults alike know the consequences.  Most people know someone who has been killed in an auto accident.  People take calculated risks, and maybe seeing something like that would make them think twice, but if they have/don’t have their own reasons for doing/not doing something then that’s just the way it is.  The only person’s behavior you can control is your own, so just be a careful and defensive driver.  Whether its drinking, texting, messing with the radio, or dealing with kids, there will always be distracted drivers out there and teens will always do stupid things while driving.

Emi
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 03:22 pm: [report]

I’m for this video too. If it makes *someone* think twice, then good. It makes me sick to think that this stuff actually happens.

Skwisgiirl
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 03:51 pm: [report]

I don’t take risks like that (texting and driving is just stupid; nothing is that urgent), but I think the over the top video is just that: over the top. Having a screaming, bloody girl just makes it seem kind of like torture porn-ish to me, which is to say: unreal.

maroon
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 03:57 pm: [report]

@skwisgiirl- have you ever been in or seen a serious accident?  they can be that bad.  sometimes worse.

Shriekback68
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 04:05 pm: [report]

I’m all for PSAs like this. The scarier, the better. I grew up watching horrific accident scenes in our driver’s education classes, and IT WORKED.

snap
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 04:06 pm: [report]

this was NOT too much.  kids need to see what actually happens, not just the before and the after.  i’m not a teenager, but even i have a hard time conceptualizing the terror and the trauma of the actual incident.  kids are desensitized to commercials showing a dead body.  this gives the message FAR better.

Claireific
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 04:09 pm: [report]

@Skwisgiirl I agree with @maroon. You just said in so many words that what that video shows isn’t reality, it’s more than what happens in car accidents. You’re absolutely wrong. This happens every day, and many times accidents are much worse than what’s depicted here. Torture porn is indeed unreal, serial killers that come up with elaborate, disgusting torture methods are rare to say the least. But the key difference here is that while being battered, broken and bloodied in a car collision may be just as gross to you, it ACTUALLY HAPPENS EVERY DAY ALL OVER THE WORLD.

Bean's Girl
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 04:16 pm: [report]

I think this video is juuuust right. Show them what CAN really happen.  It kind of tugged at my heart a little bit though with the motionless/unresponsive baby.  I like how it doesn’t sugar-coat anything.  It is very raw and to the point. Problem with teens is, they don’t listen, so they need to be shown. 

I think they need to run it here.  Hell, maybe a few adults will wise-up too.  I NEVER answer (or make calls) my cell phone when I’m driving.  I will wait until I get to a point where I can stop (not along side the road people!)and call them back.  Nothing is that important that it can’t wait until you can stop and make a call safely.  It’s just not worth the risk.

randy EL
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 05:02 pm: [report]

As gruesome as it is, this video dead on. Even before I starting working for an ambulance company I had to watch videos of wrecks and the anatomy of traumatic events. If videos like those and this one in particular became more common place in drivers’ education the road could become so much safer and my profession could be in lower demand. A good idea would be to place things like this (unedited) on TV ads, but even today with TiVo and other distractions commercial do little to hold the attention of the masses.

CaleeKay
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 05:22 pm: [report]

is is bad that i kind of laughed at first?
im sorry, but people need to be smarter in general, you should know better anyway.

Coral
wrote on August 20 2009 @ 09:57 pm: [report]

I’m all for this video—I don’t think it’s too graphic at all and I think it is entirely appropriate.

I hope that drivers who text and who talk on the phone while driving will get the message soon. Because it’s one thing for a driver to risk his or her own life on the road, but it’s entirely another thing to have the audacity to put others at risk.

karmakaze
wrote on August 21 2009 @ 03:45 am: [report]

Yes it’s graphic and bloody and absolutely horrible. However, my highschool over the past 5 or 6 years, has been subject to kids being so #&@$% stupid as to take their parents cars while drunk, get into accidents and kill themselves and other people…I swear, this has happened almost every year. So I don’t think this video is too much. Whether it’s because of drinking or texting, they NEED to see what can happen from being careless.

Chebs
wrote on August 21 2009 @ 06:47 am: [report]

My driver’s ed class was 2 weeks of videos about what happens when you drink and drive, talk on the phone and drive, drive while tired, drive while otherwise distracted (2 weeks about the handbook, if anyone was interested).  To this day, I only answer the phone if the weather isn’t bad (no rain or wet roads), I’m on a straight road, there’s no one else in the car, and it’s family calling.  Even then, I tell them I’m driving, make sure there’s no emergency, then tell them I can call back in x minutes.  I do agree that this video is graphic, but this is what happens in accidents.  This is the kind of thing that will scare kids into thinking twice.  Seeing a test dummy smashed into a wall with fake blood won’t cut it for all drivers.

Perceptible
wrote on August 21 2009 @ 09:19 am: [report]

I don’t think this was over the top at all. I think everyone with a car and a cell phone should be made to watch videos like this. (Maybe they should play in the DMV waiting rooms.) Unfortunately we live in a society where too many people don’t take driving seriously and do dangerous things from behind the wheel, endangering not only themselves, but other drivers on the road. Just because it’s scary and gory doesn’t mean it’s not real. It happens every day. And it should stop. Accidents like these never had to happen if someone were just a bit more responsible. You might feel differently if someone you loved lost their lives because someone else was just writing a simple text message from behind the wheel. Kudos to the Brits for being brave enough to create and show something like this. It’s better than seeing it in real life.

Stitchpunk
wrote on August 21 2009 @ 09:35 am: [report]

As a teen who just graduated three months ago, this is absolutely terrifying, and I’m glad for it.  Because this does happen.  Last year there were seven deaths in my graduating class due to distractions, three of them close friends.  I was lucky enough to have a family that taught me how dangerous this crap is, but a lot of people don’t ever really learn that until after they’ve killed someone.  People don’t recognize that cars are WEAPONS, and they need to be treated with as much responsibility as a gun, if not more.  I doubt any sane person would wave a gun around while texting.  Why the HECK do people think it’s okay to text while hurtling down asphalt in two tons of steel and glass?

mountain_laurel1183
wrote on August 21 2009 @ 05:39 pm: [report]

As someone involved in a head on collision due to other people’s stupidity (not texting, but stupid lady was on medication and she KNEW she wasn’t supposed to drive while taking it), I too think it is entirely appropriate. I would rather watch a gory video than have to deal with it in person. Real life doesn’t shield you from the gore, pain, etc. Driving is so commonplace anymore that it is really easy to think “Oh, I’m just going down the road” and not take necessary safety precautions—texting, talking, eating, drinking, drugs (even some prescribed with warnings on the bottle that people often ignore), you name it. Videos like this remind us that no matter how commonplace it is, driving is still something that we should take VERY seriously. It’s not just our lives, but the lives of others we have in our hands.

Steph9668
wrote on August 23 2009 @ 07:50 am: [report]

I think it’s appropriate.

Just recently in my hometown a girl, a teen I think, was driving and texting. Plowed through a couple lanes of traffic, hit two high school girls walking home from school, killed one and then crashed into the side of a hospital.

Unfortunately it seems like it takes drastic measures to reach anyone these days.

If this is the worst video you have ever seen then I definitely advise that you don’t watch the four elderly people in Kenya being kicked into a fire so the villagers could burn them alive…