Real life offers no redo's--NOYS, NRSF pick distracted driving PSA contest winner

After our Distracted Driving Summit, I wrote last October about the Drive To Life PSA Challenge. 

Today the folks at the National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) and the National Road Safety Foundation (NRSF) have picked their winner, Bethany Brown.

Now the Arizona 16-year old is planning a trip to New York where she will work side-by-side with a professional filmmaker to transform her concept into a real PSA.

Her 30-second spot, "Redo," will air on national television after its debut in May during National Youth Traffic Safety Month. And I can't wait to post it on our own www.distraction.gov.

According to NOYS, Bethany's idea,

"envisions a teen responding to a text message while driving, which causes her to crash into an oncoming car.  The scene rewinds and begins again, but this time the driver ignores the buzzing cell phone as she safely passes the car she had hit in the first scene.  A text message is shown on screen, saying "There are no redo's in real life."

That's a powerful message, one that I've been trying to spread since last summer. Bethany's idea ought to make an effective ad, and I look forward to adding it to the growing toolkit in our campaign against this deadly epidemic.

I was impressed to learn from the NRSF's Michelle Anderson that they received a lot of good contest entries. That means a lot of young people out there get it--keep your hands on the wheel and your mind on the road.

Thanks to everyone who submitted an idea. And thanks also to Sandy Spavone, all of the folks over at NOYS, and their partners at the National Road Safety Foundation.

Comments

[gloria]

sounds very similar to the UK PSA where the teens are driving and texting and end up crashing . I saw the UK PSA and it was really graphic , but I think it got the point across .

[Michael E. Bailey]

It is great to see so many young people be so interested in an important cause like ending distracted driving. It actually gives me some hope that something can be done to at least significantly reduce this problem. This vedio should make the message very clear to drivers of all ages. But we will still need to backup the PSAs with good state laws. Also, the word should go out about nocell phone talking or texting while operating heavy equipment or walking around such equipment. The Mine Safety Administration has one case so far this year where a mine official was walking around heavy mining dump trucks, was not paying close attention to where he was going, and was ran over and killed by one of the trucks that didn't see him. The Mine Safety Administration said a cell phone was found in the victim's hand. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.

[ignandy]

If I'm not mistaken, answering text message is only one of several car accident.
Envisioning teen to be aware of other cause is also needed