Ads show dangers of distracted driving
It’s blunt. It will make you flinch. It will convince more people to stop texting and driving, Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca hopes.
In new TVcommercials that began appearing Thursday and longer versions in movie theatres Friday, a young male driver takes his eyes off the road for a second to check his phone.
He is violently T-boned in a collision he should have seen coming and knocked sideways by an airbag as glass and debris fly.
Popping back up in the next frame, he’s in a wheelchair for life, staring blankly.
A tag line appears on the screen telling viewers what they’ve just realized: It happens fast.
The ads won’t appear on television until after 8 p.m. to avoid scaring younger children.
“The commercial is jarring, on purpose,” Del Duca said Thursday of the $1-million “put-down-the-phone” ad campaign by Toronto agency john st., which recently did the “text-anddrive” funeral home billboard ads along the Gardiner Expressway.
“People say they understand that texting and driving is dangerous, but the message is not penetrating. We want everyone to understand what the consequences can be,” Del Duca said.
The ads have also been modified for radio and will appear on Spotify, along with TV versions on YouTube in English, French, Cantonese, Mandarin, Arabic, Portuguese and Tagalog.
According to the Ontario Provincial Police, 69 people died last year in collisions where driver distractions played a role, the largest cause of motor vehicle deaths for the third consecutive year.
There is a distracted driving collision every 30 seconds.
One third of all drivers involved in distracted driving collisions are 30 or younger, with novice drivers tending to become more deeply distracted by electronics.
The new ads are aimed at new and young drivers, aged 16 to 25, who constantly feel the need to be connected with their phones, such as the one in the commercial chirping on the passenger seat every time a text comes in.
That siren call can be hard to ignore, but it can wait, said Del Duca, whose ministry is looking to other social networking platforms, such as dating apps, to get the message out.
“It’s not important enough to lose your life or face a horrible injury.
“Any time you’re operating a vehicle, hands on the wheel, eyes on the road.”
The 30-second TV commercials end with the wheelchair scene, but the theatre ads, to be played before movies rated for audiences age 14 and older, continue with a nurse wiping the young man’s mouth and ask- ing if he wants to move closer to the window for a look at the nice day unfolding outside.
That’s intended to reinforce the notion that a meaningless, ill-timed moment checking a phone could change your life forever, and put you in need of constant care.
Research found that a more powerful message than the threat of death is needed with young adults as they feel immortal.
There are easy ways to avoid the temptation to reach for a smart phone while driving.
“Turning off the sound notification, putting the phone away in the glove box or leaving them out of easy reach would help,” said Del Duca.
So would telling friends and family that if they don’t hear back from you right away, it’s because you’re driving or otherwise occupied.
Almost two years ago, Ontario passed legislation increasing fines to a maximum of $1,000 as well as three demerit points for distracted driving.
Progressive Conservative MPP Vic Fedeli has proposed a private members’ bill that would have the province place signs on highways alerting drivers to areas ahead when they could safely pull over to check their phones.
The states of Pennsylvania and New York already have such signs in place.