Will bloody, violent video stop people from texting and driving?
August 30, 2009 by Fred HosierPosted in: Fatality, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, cell phones and safety
A 30-minute video, made in a small town in Wales, was intended for local high school students to show them the dangers of texting and driving. But now, people from all around the world have watched it on YouTube — and the general reaction by viewers is that they’ll never text and drive again.
The town of Gwent police department made the video last summer. It starts with a multi-vehicle crash caused by a young woman who was texting while driving. The first four minutes have turned up on YouTube. (Warning: The video is very violent.)
The driver is the only survivor in her car. Two of her friends die in the crash.
The video shows much more than the crash and its immediate aftermath. It also shows the future: the aftershocks that change the lives of the young survivor and her family.
In an interview with CBS News, the video’s writer and director, Peter Watkins, said, “Yes it is violent, but the reality of a fatal road accident is much more gruesome, is much more violent. My position is that if you are old enough to drive, 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.”
Gwent police chief constable Mick Giannasi said, “We have had e-mail after e-mail from people saying, ‘I will never ever text and drive again’ — from young people.”
Watch the video via the link above. Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below. Or, take our poll about this subject on the SafetyNewsAlert.com home page.
If you’d like more information about this video, send an e-mail to: corporate.communications@gwent.pnn.police.uk
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Tags: cell phones and driving, Gwent Wales police department, texting and driving video
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September 9th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
I like this video, I have used it several times in my trainings for our drivers in our company. I actually ask my people in my training before I show the video if they or someone they know uses texting while driving. Then I show them this video after my regular drivers training. My only wish is that I could down load the video so that I don not have to log onto “You Tube” to play it.
September 16th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Very good video should be made required viewing in all drivers education classes along with the caption “Drive like your life depends on it!!!”
December 3rd, 2009 at 3:39 pm
In my opinion this video will only scare small children. I was in class when i was researching this topic nd the video was silent so i don’t kno what they were sayn b4 the crash, but why didn’t her friends do anything when she was txting. When my friend is textin while driving i ususally take over the texting so that he can drive. The texter was the main cause, but her friends were even dumber to let it happen.
May 4th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
They’re young… they always seem to think they are invincible…. The main issue I have with teens is they truly believe that bad stuff only happens to other people. I have a grandkid that is driving now and when I was in the car, she was flipping the radio stations. Her driving was terrible. I made her pull over and had a talk to her, but I am sure I saw her roll her eyes at me. Sad really….