Public Service Announcement (PSA)

Each day in the United States, 8 people on average are killed in a distracted driving related accident (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). Distracted driving can constitute anything from talking on the phone to reaching for a fallen object while driving. One way people have been fighting to combat the deadliness of distracted driving is through PSAs. PSAs are Public Service Announcements, like commercials, that warn people of dangerous activities and heighten their awareness of a problem. Even if people think no one pays attention to PSAs, if even one person saw and understood a PSA, it would make a difference. PSAs are an important part of the prevention of distracted driving because it heightens peoples' awareness of the

A Public Service Announcement (PSA) can help reduce the number of distracted driving accidents by explaining the horrible effects of distracted driving and the best ways to prevent distracted driving. Currently, the main source of distracted driving is cell phones. Cell phones cause a person to text, call, and use social media while driving; all factors that can be a deadly distraction while driving. A cell phone causes much distraction for the driver and may cause the driver to have a car crash that not only affects themselves, but also the surrounding people. As a community, we should be educating people about distracted driving in order to prevent the problem and decrease the number of accidents. Public Service Announcements are important as they provide people with evidence, resources to limit distraction while driving, and helpful/important information. Teenagers, children, and even adults will be able to be informed. Even though educating people through a Public Service Announcement is important, it might not be viewed by most people and will not be effective towards the younger viewers. Teenagers and even adults might dismiss a Public Service Announcement because the announcement does not grab their attention or because the person might not care.

Distracted driving poses an immense problem across the United States, and the issue only seems to continue growing. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), “In 2015 alone, 3,477 people were killed” in cases involving distracted driving, and of those killed, “teens were the largest age group reported as distracted at the time of fatal crashes” (“Distracted Driving”, n.d.). These terrifying statistics cannot be ignored. Distracted driving is a national epidemic, and unless society addresses the problem properly and efficiently, the risky driving behavior will continue to plague our streets, endangering peoples’ lives and leading to more fatalities.

For years, people around the world have argued and debated whether or not Public Service Announcements (PSAs) are beneficial.

A distracted driver is anyone who diverts their attention from driving by either talking or texting, talking or performing any other multitasking activity on a mobile device while driving. on a mobile device eitherRegardless if the device is a hand-held hands on or hand-freeoff or multitasking while driving. All distractions are dangerous, but text messaging is the most hazardous because it requires visual, manual, and cognitive attention from the driver (Distraction.govDistracted Driving, 2013). Regardless of the ageage, sex, or expertise of a driver; a distracted driver is a danger to society. When we drive distractedFor the distracted driver, the result is the same, and it is just an accident waiting to happen. The fact is that, and the growing number of life changing accidents is inis on the rise. This practice does not only affect the driver but “all distractions endanger driver, passenger, and bystander safety” (Distracted Driving, 2013).

Shot to aim directly at people who tend to disregard warnings and are most like to be distracted drivers, texting and driving PSA’s bring awareness and self consciousness to the general public as they display from moderate to severe graphic scenes on what happens when you take your eyes off of the wheel. A distracted driving PSA ad is not only one of the best ways to alert people of the consequences of unfocused driving, but it can also reduce the number of distracted driving incidents, thus keeping families not only careful and alert, but alive and safe.

The NHTSA claims that they “Lead the fight nationally against distracted driving by educating Americans about its dangers and partnering with the States and local police to enforce laws against distracted driving that help keep us safe.” They have several public service announcements that they release to the public through TV commercials, and social media websites like Facebook and Twitter. Because of that, many people end up watching these PSAs, even if they weren't trying to. These public service announcements are brief, but they often provide realistic footage, coupled with facts and statistics, which can make them very effective. Some of them often depict the consequences of distracted driving, and some can be very realistic, showing how a life can end very quickly if you are distracted while on the road.

“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,” (Heit). This specific quote shows how the results of distracted driving not only affects you, but also those around you. Distracted driving has been a serious concern for many years. This subject has been an issue because of the dangers it brings to the safety of others. One major type of distracted driving includes texting and driving. which is becoming more popular in today’s society because many have cell phones. Another type of distracted driving is drinking and driving, this continues to stay a topic for many years. Although drinking and driving and texting and driving carry many similarities with the

A good way to spread awareness of LGMD would be to send representatives to high schools to speak in health classrooms about what LGMDs are and the toll they take on the person with the disease physically, mentally, emotionally.

Distracted driving is one of the fastest growing problems in the United States.   It is starting to be considered as serious as drunk driving based on the dangerous outcomes.  According to the Department of Transportation (2012), “distracted driving was a cause of roughly 450,000 accident-related injuries and nearly 5,500 fatalities in 2009 alone” (para. 1). Drivers who allow themselves to become distracted while driving are not only endangering themselves, but other innocent bystanders.

Advancing technology in wireless communications is presenting a growing concern for distracted driving due to using cell phones and other electronic devices while driving. Although distracted driving accidents and fatalities have risen in the last decade, placing a ban on the use of a cell phone or other electronic devices while operating a motor vehicle as some states have will not resolve the issue. In fact a ban on cell phones and driving may very well increase the accident and fatality rate because drivers are now more involved with concealing their illegal behaviors. More citizen participation and drivers safety management should be more carefully considered in a transpiring situation such as this. More Americans should be

Starting a new school year as a tenth grader, I thought there wouldn’t be any big changes but there was, and there is. My classes became slightly more difficult than they were last year, as a freshman. Which made it more challenging to keep up with all the class work, tests, quizzes, and homework. Although, most of the assignments assigned became a bit effortless, of course effort is needed but it’s just so simple to do. All of my classes balance between those two, being challenging at times but also being simple. I, like every other student was enrolled into a World History class. In History class, we were assigned a Public Service Announcement(PSA) just recently.

When it comes to someone getting behind a wheel it’s a big responsibility, you are not a passenger that could be doing different stuff you are now carrying with several lives and people are waiting for you at home. Many things cross our minds exactly when we are about to drive, but we need to learn how to ignore them and worry about getting where we supposed to be. Nowadays many accidents that occur on roads are caused by distracting driving and it seems easy to choose to do something such as: texting, eating or drinking, talking to passenger’s etcetera. “The best way to end distracted driving is to educate all Americans about the danger it poses” Not everyone realizes the danger it is being distracted while driving, but every distraction cause at least once to take our eyes off the road.

Sometimes when you put off doing something you get hurt. I learned this while doing a project in my eighth grade English class. We were assigned a Public Service Announcement project during the last weeks of school. Everyone was required to choose from a list of topics for their public service announcement. Our topic was on what people can do to save the environment. We made the project with a mixture of photos from the internet and photos we personally captured. Then, we added music and the project would be complete once we recorded. Two-thirds of the way done with our project, my group decided to slow down our pace. We stopped the project altogether and we remembered the assignment once our teacher reminded us. She told us that it was scheduled

A highlight of this course for me personally was learning about the different levels of governments in Canada. This taught me which level of government I should contact, based on the situation I am in. This would be very useful, because I do not want to contact the wrong level of government, and end up embarrassing myself and wasting my precious time. My favourite assignment was creating the Public Service Announcement (PSA). This is because, I am good at working with my voice, recording, and inserting sound effects.