New DOT PSAs aim to prevent distracted driving car accidents

The Department of Transportation and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood have been on a mission since 2009 to prevent distracted driving car and truck accidents and the injuries that can result. Most recently, the DOT released new PSAs aimed at teens to warn them of the dangers of distracted driving.

The PSAs are currently playing before movies in Regal Cinema movie theaters across the country. The PSAs will also play on gas station pump-top TVs throughout December. The DOT hopes that the PSAs will help reduce distracted driving accidents, injuries and fatalities by reminding teens and other drivers to pay attention to the road during the busy holiday season.

The new ads feature three different cars filled with teens and driven by a teen who is laughing and texting or talking on a phone. The distracted teen drivers all do not see an obstacle in the road in time because they are looking at their phones and a deadly crash results. The three cars hit three different obstacles — a giant stone LOL, OMG and L8R.

The message of the ads, “one text or call could wreck it all,” aims to remind drivers to remember to concentrate on the task of driving because one text or call is not worth the potential devastation of a distracted driving car accident. 

Source: NHTSA.gov “Regal Cinemas and Outcast PumpTop TV to Air PSAs Across the Country,” Karen Aldana, Nov. 28, 2011