Volkswagen: Eyes On The Road

Via AutoBlog:

Distracted driving continues to be a scourge to road safety around the world. In the US, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ran a graphic commercial in April appealing to young people about the dangers of texting and driving. In Hong Kong, Volkswagen helped with a technologically savvy way to make people understand the peril. For the innovative ad to work, a movie theater was equipped with a location-based broadcaster that could send a mass text to everyone in the room at once. At the same time, a special short film aired before the feature. In case you don't see where this is going, we aren't going to spoil the outcome.

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Feds Launch "Don't Text & Drive" PSA

AdWeek comments on the below intense PSA issued this week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:

The most memorable safe-driving PSAs tend to be made overseas—in Britain, Mexico, Australia. But the U.S. adds a powerful new entry to the mix with this brutal spot from The Tombras Group for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Ushering in National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, the spot is so riveting, you should stop reading now and watch it, then share it with your friends and family. It's OK, we'll wait. Welcome back. Aimed at teens, it's incredibly straightforward, simulating an everyday scene cut short by a distracted driver. The theme is "U drive. U text. U pay," with the hashtag #justdrive. The police officer's dialogue is perhaps a bit confusing—he almost doesn't need to be there.

Parents Of Driver Killed While Texting Publish His Interrupted Final Message

Copyranter is calling this "more powerful than the usual violent, bloody images created by big fancy ad agencies."

The police report says Heit, a Northern Colorado student, drifted into oncoming traffic, jerked the steering wheel and went off the road, rolling his car. Witnesses told police that Heit appeared to have his head down when he began drifting into the oncoming lane in the outskirts of Greeley, where the University of Northern Colorado is located. An oncoming driver slowed and moved over just before Heit looked up and jerked the steering wheel. Police said Heit had a spotless driving record and wasn't speeding. Heit died shortly after the crash, but his parents released the photo of his last text hoping it will stop future accidents. "In a split second you could ruin your future, injure or kill others, and tear a hole in the heart of everyone who loves you," Sharon Heit, Alexander's mother, said.