Will Bloody Texting PSA Get The Message To Teens?

[Confederate Kahanist]

http://www.parentdish.com/2009/08/25/will-bloody-texting-psa-get-the-message-to-teens/?icid=main|aim|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parentdish.com%2F2009%2F08%2F25%2Fwill-bloody-texting-psa-get-the-message-to-teens%2F


Texting behind the wheel qualifies as irresponsible and completely stupid. But is a gory British public service announcement going to reach kids who believe they are immortal?

Be warned: the four-minute PSA is extremely graphic, showing not only the realistic bloody injuries of three pretty teenage girls, but also an unresponsive infant in a car seat and a preschooler asking her unconscious and bleeding parents to wake up.



Mike Stout, director of the division of traffic safety for the Illinois Department of Transportation, said that he doesn't know if this kind of message would deter teens from texting behind the wheel -- and he wouldn't take the risk of trying to find out.

"This is way too gory," Stout told ParentDish. "...sometimes you have to push the envelope, but if you put this on TV, you'd have no control over who your audience was. Younger kids could see it, and I know some teens that it wouldn't affect at all."

As I watched the clip with my baby nearby, tears came to my eyes when the camera lingered on what appeared to be a dead infant in a car seat with a preschool-age sibling pleading for her parents in the front seat to "wake up."

So the PSA gets right to the heart of parents to avoid the lure of a quick text. But would the teenager behind me do the same?

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If it was up to me.  If someone was caught texting while driving, they would serve some time and never drive again.

[The One and Only Mo]

I agree. Drinking impairs your ability, so does texting.

[Rubystars]

That's a very well done video. I just hope it saves some lives.