Disturbing Texting-While-Driving PSA Drives Viewers To Tears
August 27, 2009 9:32 AM ET
A dead baby staring lifelessly from a car seat. A bloodied teen screaming as she looks at her two dead friends. A little girl asking what's wrong with her father, who appears to be dead. Those shocking images from a new U.K. public service announcement warning of the dangers of texting and driving have brought many Internet viewers to tears and vomiting, according to comments posted on the Web.
Weighing in on the video, viewers said they were deeply affected.
"Yes, I know it is not real but it is very realistic and quite true to reality. Frankly I feel like crying right now," wrote a blogger on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Web site.
Another blogger on the site said: "I have to warn you before you watch this, it is very upsetting! I literally felt like I was going to throw up after watching it."
The hard-hitting video, made in Gwent, Wales, last summer to warn against the dangers of texting while driving, has been seen by 1.5 million people on YouTube. Some viewers have criticized that the PSA is too graphic, but the filmmaker and writer adamantly defends his work.
"Yes, it is violent, but the reality of a fatal road accident is much more gruesome, is much more violent," Peter Watkins Hughes told CBS News.
"My position on this is that if you are old enough to drive, if you are old enough to want to drive, you are old enough to be aware of the real and serious risks one places yourself in every time you get behind the wheel."
Indeed, the visceral reactions prompted by the video may be far more effective in reaching teens than any government-imposed laws or legislation which are already in effect in some U.S. states and are under consideration by lawmakers.
Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood blogged about the deadly consequences of texting and driving, and is convening a summit of senior transportation officials, safety advocates, law enforcement representatives, members of Congress and academics to study the situation in September.
As of this Friday, Missouri will join 22 other states that ban texting while driving. However, the new Missouri law is limited to drivers under 21 years old.
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