Methods of Influencing Public Attitudes Towards Distracted Driving

Most people do not want to see their family and friends get hurt by their own bad decisions. Specifically, people don’t want their friends and family members getting hurt as a consequence of distracted driving. According to Drews et al., the use of an electronic device while driving reduces your ability to effectively navigate roadways by 40% (Drews et al., 2008, p. 392-400). Although the finding from this study is significant, it may be difficult for people to understand what that statistic truly implies. T.B. Rogers et al. (1977) have noted that, “students learned information best when they related it to aspects of themselves (a phenomenon known as the self-reference effect)” (p. 677-688). Numbers are useful for scientific study, but the average person cannot easily relate them to their own life experiences. To get people to truly understand how distracted driving affects them, they need to view media that directly relates its consequences to their everyday lives. 

An effective strategy to motivate people to eliminate distracted driving is to create a public service announcement that relates this data to situations people face in their everyday lives. This PSA will be played on television and various social media platforms to reach a large portion of modern society. Two scenarios from the driver’s point of view will be depicted in this PSA. Scenario one depicts an undistracted driver and his family being able to make it to their destination without an accident. Scenario two depicts a distracted driver texting while driving, which causes an accident that results in the death of everyone in the driver’s vehicle. This PSA plays on the emotional state of the viewer. Ideally, the viewers would feel bad for the ones injured in the accident, as well as contempt for the driver that caused the accident. People watching this PSA don’t want their loved ones to share a similar fate, so they would be more likely to make safer decisions while driving. This media directly relates the consequences of distracted driving to the everyday person’s life, and as such, will motivate them to eliminate their distracted driving habits.