NHTSA's Communication Campaign Against Distracted Driving

Communication Campaign against Distracted Driving
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Communication Campaign against Distracted Driving
Introduction
My communication campaign focuses on eliminating a significant problem on American highways that causes numerous death, which is distracted driving. Based on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), distracted driving is things that divert the driver's attention on the road, including texting, talking to car occupants, drinking, eating, and concentrating on the navigation or entertainment system among others. In 2020, around 3,142 people died from distracted driving (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2022). For instance, if an individual is driving at 55 miles per hour, taking 5 seconds off the highway is equivalent to covering the length of a football field with a person’s eyes closed. That driver can easily lose focus on the road and hit a pedestrian, moving or stationary object, or collide with oncoming traffic. The importance of this campaign against distracted driving is to promote road safety for all road users. The primary sponsor of the campaign is the NHTSA. NHTSA has always been on the frontline to reduce road accidents caused by distracted driving, which is why the organization will likely achieve its mission by sponsoring this campaign. The potential target audience is individuals aged from 17 to 27 years. The expected outcome is sensitize young individuals why they should concentrate while driving to avoid preventable road crashes that occur from distracted driving (Stiff & Mongeau, 2003). NHTSA will advance its mission by saving people’s lives by making highways safe for everyone. Eliminating distracted driving will improve safety on American highways and significantly reduce road accidents caused by this problem.
Target Audience
The target audience for this campaign is young people between 17 and 27 years. The characteristics, psychographics, demographics, diversities, equities, commonalities, inequities, and other inclusionary information make this group of people more vulnerable to distracted driving. The graph shown below was generated from the data gathered and analyzed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2019, portraying different demographics affected by distracted driving, particularly texting while driving.
Figure 1
Demographics of Drivers likely to Text While Driving in 2019


(Source: /transportationsafety/distracted_driving/index.html)
Figure 1 reveals that individuals aged 17 years and above are likely to be distracted from driving by over 50% due to texting while behind the steering wheel (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). If one distractor is responsible for causing such a high percentage of the likelihood of engaging in distracted driving, then it is evident that this target audience is highly vulnerable. The chosen target audience participates in numerous social activities, including chatting with friends on social media, video calling, taking pictures, driving at high speed on highways, engaging in deep conversations with other car occupants, drinking and driving, and other common disruptions on the road (Timofeeva, Serova, & Golub, 2020). All these characteristics make the selected target audience more vulnerable to distracted driving, which is why coming up with a campaign targeting them will likely combat this issue. However, effective awareness campaigns conveying the adverse consequences of distracted driving can induce shame, guilt, and fear (Peyton, 2020). That way, my target audience will likely avoid possible driving distractors.
Attitudes and Behavior
The attitudes and behaviors of the target audience make them more vulnerable to distracted driving. Young people aged from 17 to 27 years are more curious to try new things. For instance, they are likely to drive faster to compete with other cars on the highway. In addition, they spend more time on the Internet. Some check new products or services, chat with friends and families, engage in class or work discussion forums, and like to multitask (Aronson, 2012). For example, many of these individuals do not hesitate to answer a phone call even when behind the steering wheel. The self-perception theory posits that people know about their attitudes, emotions, and other internal states by inferring their behaviors (Gass & Seiter, 2014). When it comes to my target audience, it is possible to know whether they are likely to be faced with this problem if these young individuals usually check notifications on their social media accounts while driving. In addition, others drive under the influence of drugs, which increases the probability of distracted driving due to impaired judgment. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the three primary cognitive variables that determine an individual’s behaviors are perceived behavioral control, attitudes, and norms. TPB depicts that my target audience is more prevalent to behaviors that cause distracted driving. In a study performed in 2019, about 83.5% of the participants, who were young individuals from 17 to 30 years, admitted to reading, texting, writing, and checking phone notifications while driving (Shevlin & Goodwin, 2019). Since young people aged between 17 and 27 years are prone to habits, behaviors, and attitudes that might lead to distracted driving, safe driving can be realized through public awareness campaigns to eliminate this significant issue.
Setting and Channels
One of the primary contexts or settings that will be used to execute my campaign is having workshops for preventing distracted driving in higher education institutions. The most significant thing about workshops is that they can be used as a group and interpersonal communication channels (Hassani et al., 2017). In that light, the target audience can interact with NHTSA to understand the magnitude of distracted driving and what can be done to avoid it. For instance, NHTSA should introduce simulation games to promote road safety by teaching participants how to comply with road signs and avoid common distractors while driving. Additionally, the second most appropriate context is using Facebook as a mass communication channel to sensitize my target audience about the dangers of distracted driving (Krouwer, Poels, & Paulussen, 2020). A Facebook page can be created targeting young individuals, who are frequent users of social media platforms, to inform and persuade them about the importance of safe driving habits. Statistics of individuals affected by distracted driving and relevant images that trigger the emotion of the target audience can be used. Facebook is a proper tool to foster the culture of safe driving (Atkin & Rice, n.d.). NHTSA can use young celebrities to create short video clips that urge young people to focus on the road while driving to avoid the adverse consequences of distracted driving.
Design Features
The first design feature that will help create an impactful campaign is credibility. Credibility refers to the speaker’s believability and authenticity, which should be dynamic, receiver-based, and has a multidimensional construct (Cialdini, 2021). For example, individuals selected to sensitize young individuals should be fun and well-experienced in distracted driving. Second, pathos should be used when creating the campaign on social media to trigger the emotions of the target audience. Pictures of cars involved in road crashes can be used to facilitate positive behavioral change in young people (Krouwer, Poels, & Paulussen, 2020). Third, logos should be used in the design of the campaign to show credible data about the dangers of distracted driving. For instance, it can be important to publish the statistics of children left as orphans or young people involved in distracted driving annually (National Safety Council, 2015).
Fourth, NHTSA should use young people from diffe...