Everything Traffic Safety
Here’s the latest from the studios at TheWiseDrive. Law enforcement agencies across Washington recently participated in a distracted driving emphasis patrol. Watch the video and find out how easy it is to get a ticket for distracted driving.
Last week’s distracted driving PSA ended tragically. This one; not so much. A friend in traffic safety passed it along (thanks Shelly) and I loved it, so here’s “Hello”. This PSA comes from New Zealand, but the message is universal. And funny.
Give it a view, and then ask yourself, “Would I try this?”
Since today kicks off the distracted driving emphasis patrols across Washington, I thought this would be a good day for a distracted driving PSA. While there is some debate over the effectiveness of graphic PSAs, I think this one does a good job of communicating the message, and here’s why: Continue reading “If You’re Texting, You’re Not Driving”
Over in Ireland they’re willing to break your heart to convince you to drive safe. It’s hard not to get a bit choked up on this one. Definitely not one of those cheesy crash PSAs; this one has a compelling story line and solid production values. I’m not sure it needs the extra bit of shame at the end; the images make the point just fine, thank you.
Bonus: The soundtrack features an amazing acoustic cover of “Sweet Child of Mine”.
Read this before watching: In this video you’ll see some people making a gesture with their pinky fingers. For the typical Northwest Washington resident, that gesture doesn’t have much meaning. But in Australia, where this was broadcast, that’s what you do to imply that a person (a male person, to be specific) has a remarkably small, well, this is a family-friendly site, so small package.
Now you’re ready to watch this traffic safety PSA.
First of all, Helen Mirren is great, even in commercials. Second, I wonder if another actor without the British accent could get away with saying what she said. Finally, right on Helen; we need more voices like you (both the accent and the message). Oh, and it’s good to see an alcoholic beverage company state this position so boldly.
I’m not sure if this should be called a PSA or a short documentary, but it asks some great questions on this theme: What should our goal be for traffic fatalities? You’ll probably recognize some of the backgrounds; this one comes to us from the folks at the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. Instead of graphic crashes or big budget effects, this short documentary (there, I decided) lets people in our own community answer the questions. It’s about five minutes long, and I might be biased since this comes from our home state, but I think its worth all 309 seconds.
In a scene from “The Man With Two Brains” Steve Martin is suspected of impaired driving. Apparently the Austrian police have incredibly difficult impaired driving tests. I’m all for thorough testing, but if I was faced with this test, I’d be going to jail. How about you? Could you do as well as Steve Martin?
The state of Colorado brings us a great PSA about driving high. There are a few things I want to note about this one. To start with, it’s about driving high, but at no point in the entire 30 second spot do we see any driving, or even a car. It doesn’t rely on tragedy to try to change behavior; instead it focuses on an ordinary, real-life situation: a patio barbecue. Watching the stoned guy try to cook the meat, it’s easy to conclude that guy shouldn’t be driving.
Okay, this isn’t exactly a PSA, at least not intentionally, but when Ice Cube and Kevin Hart got into the back seat of a car, this little bit of traffic safety wisdom popped out.