Persuasive Essay On Texting And Driving

Introduction:
Driving alone has many dangers involved. Texting while driving just increases the risks involved while being behind the wheel. Numerous accidents caused by texting while driving lead to death or serious injuries. Many people are taking precautions to make the road a safer place to be for drivers, passengers, and bystanders. Today, mobile communication companies are taking a stand on Texting and Driving. Many have created advertisement campaigns to persuade their audience not to text and drive. Image A portrays texting as a distraction to drivers by placing a drawn out text message to block the road. The artist chooses to put the image in the perspective of the driver to provide the viewers with shock to make them understand
Watkins-Hughes directed a film in 2009 to purposely discourage high school students from texting and driving. The film, entitled ‘COW test 001,’ included high graphic and emotional footage. Many teenagers supported the film and went on to say that the graphic film was more effective then someone just telling them the risks involved with texting and driving. While describing the film Watkins-Hughes says “Young people were telling us, 'it needs to be more shocking, it needs to be more violent, it needs to be more truthful.’(qtd in “Using Visual Imagery to Discourage Texting While Driving: How Far Is Too Far?”).” Watkins-Hughes’s short film was so effective that the Gwent police decided to use the film as a PSA to run locally. While filming, Watkins-Hughes posted a four minute video clip on YouTube to show a friend. After weeks of being unnoticed, the video suddenly became a popular viral video, started attracting hits, and was being copied onto other websites. “One survey in the US found that 80% of people who had seen the Gwent film were less likely to text while driving than before (qtd in “The Road Safety Video Taking YouTube by Storm”.)
Critics of the short film, however, questioned whether the scare-tactic approach will actually achieve the desired effect of reducing the incidence of texting while driving. "What are you trying to accomplish with the warning? Are you trying to inform people, or are you treating them like lower beings that have to be shocked into the way you want them to behave?" asked W. Kip Viscusi, a professor who teaches law, economics and management at Vanderbilt University Law School in Nashville, Tennessee (qtd in “Using Visual Imagery to Discourage Texting While Driving: How Far Is Too