Saturday, October 11, 2014

Texting and Driving PSA- Teen



Teens texting while driving 

can signal other risky behaviors.


PSA Video: The award winning video above "Texting and Driving PSA- Teen" was made for the Secretary of State of Illinois in Mar 2011.

Producers: Punch Films (https://www.youtube.com/user/punchfilmsfw/about)
Time: 30 Seconds
Usage: Public Media such as You Tube, Facebook and Other Communication Technologies. 

  • Receiving or sending a text message takes your eyes off the road for almost 5 seconds which driving at 55 mph is equivalent to driving the length of a football field (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2014).  
  • Almost half of teens age 16 and older admit to texting while driving at least once while driving in the last 30 days (Olsen, Shults, & Eaton, 2013).
  • Health educators are the experts in promoting public health messages and should be at the forefront for impacting cell phone use and texting while driving.

A recent study published in a Pediatric Journal indicates that teens who were most likely to text and drive in the last 30 days, were also more likely to engage in other risky behaviors, like not wearing their seat belts, drink alcohol and drive and ride with a drunk driver.  The study continues by reporting that the more often the teen engages in texting and driving the more likely they are to engage in the other risky behaviors too. 

Parents are most likely to have the largest impact their teen's behavior when it comes to texting and driving and other risky driving behaviors like drinking and driving.  More and more studies point out that effective help for parents to set "House Driving Rules" can reduce these risky driving behaviors. Lastly, parents should set the example and not text and drive too. 

References

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2014). Retrieved from http://www.nhtsa.gov/

Olsen, E. O. M., Shults, R. A., & Eaton, D. K. (2013). Texting while driving and other risky motor vehicle behaviors among US high school students. Pediatrics,131(6), e1708-e1715.

3 comments:

  1. De'An,

    The video you posted makes quite an impact! I see so many people texting and driving during my commute to work. These texting drivers really scare me. I have extra concern for teens texting and driving because of the lack of experience driving and their feelings of invisibility. According to the Federal Communications Commission (n.d.) texting while driving increases crash risk to 23 times that of non-distracted drivers. More public service announcements like the video you posted need to be made.

    References

    Federal Communications Commission (n.d.). The dangers of texting while driving. Retrieved from http://www.fcc.gov/guides/texting-while-driving

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  2. De'An,

    Texting and driving is a common occurrence for teens. This video is a good example of what could happen if someone is texting while driving. I also like that you mentioned parents can have an impact on teens driving behaviors.

    Tina

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  3. Hi De'An. Very powerful video you posted there. I completely agree that this is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. The fact that parents are more likely to have an impact on their teens behavior is also interesting to me.... simply because I was the "rebellious" kid growing up and did the exact opposite of what my parents told me. Although they set a good example of how they wanted me to behave it didn't "stick" until I was older. I think videos like this and perhaps other methods such as school groups against texting while driving can also have a positive impact on this issue don't you? Its certainly not something that will be fixed overnight but it would certainly help to have more PSA's such as this to get the "ball rolling". I have been behind a kid that was texting and I tell you they drive like they have been drinking.. or at least that's what I thought when I was behind them. It wasn't until I pulled up next to her I noticed she was texting and laughing and not paying attention to her phone. She wasn't too thrilled with me when she looked over and I motioned to her to put her phone down... she was so uninterested that she flipped me off.... Ugh... kids these days.... :-\
    Great topic and post!!
    Have a great week!
    Zeke

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