***Comments are Moderated (no choice) please do not post any off-color remarks as your comment will not get approved.*** Two teen girls giggle over a text message they are sending while driving along a country road. Distracted, the driver smashes head-on into another car, and while the bloodied girls exchange dazed glances, a third car careens into the passenger side.
The driver finds her friend lying dead next to her. Then the camera switches to another smashed vehicle and shows a young child inside, asking why her parents are not waking up.
Produced by the Gwent Police Department and the Tredegar Comprehensive School with SPECIAL EFFECTS BY ZIPLINE CREATIVE www.ziplinecreative.co.uk the PSA sends out a horrid visual to illustrate the dangers of texting while driving. But it currently isnt being aired on U.S. television. However, you can use the following link to see the original PSA Trailer,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3_x0CcdMRA
This new upload does not require a login to view it.
A South Wales community of 550,000–located approximately 150 miles west of London–that many Americans have never even heard of seems an unlikely place for the discussion of dangers of texting-and-driving to be raised, but a visionary Gwent police department was up to the task. Police locked arms with filmmaker Peter Watkins-Hughes to produce the PSA, titled COW — The Film That Will Stop You Texting and Driving, named after the character Cassie Cowan, who unleashes the lethal chain of events by texting at the wheel.
Some 300 drama students from throughout Wales auditioned for the movie-like short, with local police cars and air ambulance helicopters used to lend an even more vivid reality to the film. Digital special effects were used to give viewers the you are there feeling of being inside Cowans vehicle as the road carnage ensues.
Gwents Chief Constable Mick Giannasi said it was the department’s intent for the PSA to cut a wider swath than just Wales.
The messages contained in the film are as relevant to the people of Tennessee as they are to the residents (of Wales), he said on the department’s Web site. Texting and driving can have tragic consequences, and the more this film is viewed, the better.
Appearing on TODAY Tuesday, noted ad executive Donny Deutsch said he believes the ad may be the most powerful ever — and agreed that it needs to be required viewing.
I will show this to every kid I know, and I salute the police department, Deutsch told TODAYs Ann Curry. I would really implore various local stations: run this stuff, put this on the air. It will help.
Recent studies show that texting while driving may be as dangerous and lethal as drunken driving. Up to a quarter of the estimated 40,000 vehicle fatalities in the U.S. annually may be traced back to distracted drivers texting. A recent Virginia Tech study found that texting drivers are 23 times more likely to be involved in a collision than non-texters. And although AAA reports 95 percent of drivers polled acknowledge texting while driving is dangerous, 21 percent of them have done it recently anyway.
But the cold, hard data is nothing compared to showing people up close and chillingly the human toll texting while driving can exact, Deutsch told Ann Curry on The Today Show.
Its one thing if I just say to you, You know what, Ann, you increase your risk 23 times when texting, and you go, OK, he said. We hear the numbers, we hear of the fatalities, but you never actually see it this graphic.
Its one thing to intellectually get it into our brains, but when you see it this graphically.I tell you, I couldnt get through this (ad).
There remains doubt whether the four-minute PSA will ever see the light of day on U.S. television screens TODAY ran segments of the Welsh police production, but not in its entirety. Curry asked Deutsch if the PSA will make it past U.S. censors, and he acknowledged, Theyre going to have a problem with that.
Currently, 17 states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books that ban texting while driving, and it appears the issue is soon to get even more government attention. The U.S. Transportation Department will hold a summit next month examining all forms of distracted driving, with texting being at the top of the list.
Press inquiries:
EDITOR Richard Jon Micklewright (You can message him on his channel (link above) for permissions, screenings etc) DIRECTOR Peter Watkins- Hughes is available for interviews, as is Gwent’s Chief Constable Mick Giannasi, from the Gwent Police. http://www.gwent.police.uk/
As well as ZIPLINE CREATIVE special effects team at www.ziplinecreative.com.
Duration : 0:6:3
[youtube vOTbAbKoL28]
I just watched the …
I just watched the full movie at F ilmBro . com and it was awesome!
Holy brutal :\ …
Holy brutal :\…… that’s what happens when you txt and drive at the same time!!
oh, except one haha
oh, except one haha
And they are all …
And they are all blonde… hmm lol
The splatting …
The splatting sounds were a nice touch.
i know!
i know!
thats why i pull …
thats why i pull over when i text!!
No wonder they have …
No wonder they have wrecks. They drive on the wrong side of the road. What can you expect from these guys?
nope
nope
So your going to …
So your going to text and drive?
she was in the …
she was in the wrong lane because she was txting and not paying attention
asshole, were do …
asshole, were do you get off laughing at this asshole
after the second …
after the second crash
they were screwed big time
that scared the living crap out of me
heres a simple tip …
heres a simple tip if u need to text why not just hand someone ur phone in the car and they text for you
this law doesnt matter much to me anyway cause im from canada not u.s. and im getting a sidekick phone next year and im 16 but i gotta go to canada for my licence sadly…so basically this law is pointless to me unless i drive again….and im kinda scared to be in a car now cuz of all the (no offense to women out there) cuz of all the stupid teens specially girls texting while driving
I laughed when i …
I laughed when i watched it
@erwalkerca dont …
@erwalkerca dont worry im jk’n just to get people mad…
She was not in the …
She was not in the wrong lane at the start. Do you realize that not every country’s driving laws are the same? As it said in the video, this was a PSA from the UK. They drive on the left, not on the right like North America.
First off didnt she …
First off didnt she veer into the right lane? So she was in the wrong lane to begin with.
By the way, I work …
By the way, I work at a hospital and see the results of way too many accidents like this. My area is relatively rural and a lot of accidents are caused by people who think it’s okay to go 15, 20, 30 miles over the speed limit on curvy country roads. People who cause such accidents, if they survive, should be required to go public with their story.
Great video. It …
Great video. It wouldn’t have been a bad idea to also show the aftermath. As if living with what she’d done wasn’t enough, the texting and driving teen would have likely also been charged with four counts of some form of manslaughter, or Britain’s equivalent. Even if she was able to get a lenient sentence and didn’t have to do much time in jail/juvenile hall, finishing school, spending time with friends, going to college and all the other teen rites of passage would have gone out the window.
I watched this over …
I watched this over two months ago and it scared the out of me. I seriously was not able to sleep for about a week after watching it. Along with that I am scared to death to be in a car now, and on top of that I’m haunted by this video everywhere I turn. It definitely put it’s point across for me, and I don’t really think I ever want to drive now.
Okay, simple …
Okay, simple question in that case. What are you gonig to do about? Passing a law that says txting is illegal will not stop people from txt and driving. It will not stop people from talking on the cell and driving. You can pass another 1 million laws and it will not stop this behavior. Like or not, people will do those thing while driving and there is nothing you can do about it. So go ahead and call this people any names you like if it will make you feel better as that most you can really do.
You sound like an …
You sound like an alcoholic in denial.
Simple point is this.
Only you & a tiny handful of people in your little bubble really care about you & what is important to you.
You don’t have the right to put the lives of thousands you encounter on the road yearly at risk for any reason.
Especially not at the whim of a text message.
You are a murderer in waiting.
@ylen13 they on the …
@ylen13 they on the wrong sie of the road because it was made in wales lol but yea i text the same as you
I think its funny …
I think its funny that they have to make high budget movies to teach people incredibly simple things these days