Public Service Announcement and Distracted Driving Essay

Distracted driving is dangerous and can have detrimental consequences, including death. Hayashi et al. state that distracted driving is described as driving when one’s attention is diverted from the driving process to concentrate on another task. Distractions can be visual, such as gazing away from the road, manual, for instance, using a phone, or cognitive, such as thinking about anything other than driving (Hayashi et al.). These three factors raise the likelihood of a motor vehicle accident. Texting while driving, a typical kind of distracted driving, is especially hazardous since it combines all three types of distraction (Hayashi et al.). A Public Service Announcement (PSA) is often useless because physical mortality messages may elicit protective intents to alter dangerous conduct (Martin and Kamins 214). Nonetheless, social loss messages cause individuals to step outside themselves and consider the viewpoint of loved ones left behind (Martin and Kamins 214). The paper emphasizes that PSAs help to reduce the incidence of distracted driving incidents by instilling anticipated regret.

Public health advocates strive to create beneficial social outcomes connected to health. Nonetheless, people continue to engage in harmful health behaviors (Martin and Kamins 205). The boomerang effect occurs when message recipients respond negatively to the PSA (Hayashi et al.). Threat appeals may not always evoke high degrees of the threat of texting while driving, resulting in greater intentions to text and drive (Hayashi et al.). For instance, the boomerang effect occurs when communication recipients respond negatively to the message. Threat appeals may not always evoke high degrees of the threat of texting while driving, resulting in greater intentions to text and drive (Bartal). Hence, to be effective, a threat appeal must appeal to emotions and get people thinking about distracted driving and its implications.

Often while driving, people do not care about their death or injury. Rather than concentrating on the individual’s physical death, Martin and Kamins focus on the effects that “one’s death has on loved ones left behind”—the tight interpersonal connection (205). The findings indicate that the social loss method is a more successful tactic than the physical mortality message framing (Martin and Kamins 214). Participants demonstrate a heightened awareness of the pain of loved ones left behind when a person dies due to the hazardous activity (Martin and Kamins 214). Therefore, reducing the accessibility of a possible cause of dread, such as one’s mortality, may aid in developing more health-responsive conduct.

The PSA that invokes regret of killing or hurting someone else while driving rather than fear of harming oneself is equally effective. While many current and previous anti-texting PSAs focus on drivers’ worry about their potential mortality, threat appeals that generate a sense of impending guilt serve to minimize distracted driving (Bartal). Regret is an aversive cognitive feeling that people experience when they recognize or assume that their current situation might be better if they had done differently (Bartal). Previous studies demonstrated that making people aware of their potential future regret, such as an anticipated regret, diminishes undesired actions like unsafe driving (Hayashi et al.). Hence, threat appeals impact impulsive decision-making through this emotion.

Thus, PSAs based on evoking regret rather than fear reduce the number of distracted driving incidents. A great example of an effective PSA is the “Faces of Distracted Driving” series from the United States Department of Transportation (“U.S. Department of Transportation” 1). It focuses on the deadly effects of texting and mobile phone use during driving. “Get the Message,” a 30-second public service announcement, contains recordings from people throughout the country who have lost family members in distracted driving accidents (“U.S. Department of Transportation” 2). Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation of the United States, praised the families of distracted driving fatalities who boldly decided to share their stories of loss with the globe (“U.S. Department of Transportation” 3). The overflow of compassion in reaction to their tragic stories has been astounding, and their efforts to raise public awareness are saving lives.

To conclude, PSAs help to reduce the amount of distracted driving occurrences. PSAs should elicit anticipatory remorse and focus on the repercussions of one’s death on loved ones left behind to have an impact rather than one’s harm to themselves. People frequently disregard their mortality or harm while driving. The PSA that induces sorrow for killing or injuring someone else while driving is more effective than the fear of injuring oneself. A unique viewpoint is generally beneficial since it gets people thinking and encourages them to reconsider their choices. A successful PSA may assist the public in seeing that by changing their habits, they can enhance the lives of others around them. As a result, public service announcements should be utilized to raise public awareness of the hazards of distracted driving and assist save lives. For instance, after viewing a video on real-life experiences of people who lost someone due to distracted driving, anticipated regret influences people to avoid inappropriate behavior.

Works Cited

“U.S. Department of Transportation Releases “Faces of Distracted Driving” Public Service Announcement.” U.S. Department of Transportation, Web.

Bartal, Susan. “Research: Video-based ‘Threat Appeals’ may Lead to Less Texting and Driving.” PennState, Web.

Hayashi, Yusuke, et al. “Threat Appeals Reduce Impulsive Decision Making Associated with Texting While Driving: A behavioral Economic Approach.” PloS One, vol. 14, no. 3, 2019. Web.

Martin, Ingrid M., and Michael A. Kamins. “Effectively Using Death in Health Messages: Social Loss Versus Physical Mortality Salience.” Journal of Consumer Behaviour, vol. 18, no. 3, 2019, pp. 205-218. Web.