There seems to be a certain shock factor involved in these videos when a viewer first views them but do they stick in the mind when someone is driving? Here is a UK anti texting and driving commercial.
Its a very graphic video and tragic in nature. But will you remember it when driving down the road. But more importantly will the person next to you remember it when driving down the road. It unfortunatly seems like an exercise in showing the after effects of actions people take, when the same people will probably take those actions anyways.
Here's a clip of someone texting next to me on the highway.
The driver of this car, looked up and saw my considerably larger vehicle. Then he looked back down to text again. He straddles 2 lanes for roughly 20 seconds, then once he's completed his text he returns to the center of his lane and speeds up. 20 SECONDS! thats an eternity when you're doing 100 km/h! And 100 km/h is considered slow on this highway! I'm just happy that no one is dead, but I'm a bit bothered by the fact that the driver of the vehicle didn't stop texting when they realized that their driving was severely compromised by it.
Perhaps one of the consequences of constant public reminder campaigns is a sense of desensitization and a feeling that yes this happens on our highways and roads, but only to other people. I don't mean to harp on people about their driving, but the reality of things is.
You can spend a life time driving perfectly, but it only takes one mistake by you or someone else to end that lifetime.
Please drive safe.
