Public Service Address cannot Control Distracted Driving (Essay Sample)

Public Service Address cannot Control Distracted Driving Part 1 Claim: Public Service Announcement (PSA) is not effective enough to minimize distracted driving incidences significantly. Counter claim: PSA can effectively reduce the number of distracted driving incidences significantly. Part 2: References Primary Sources Nelson, Atchley. "The Effects of Perception of Risk and Importance of Answering and Initiating a Cellular Phone Call While Driving." Accident Analysis and Prevention (2009): 16-23. Watkins-Hughes, Peter. PSA Texting while Driving: Newport School. Gwent: Wales Publishers, 2009. Secondary sources Heckscher, Melissa. "Text messaging adds to growing accident statistics of 'inattentive' drivers." The Paramus Post (2006): 7-10. Richtel, Matt. "Safety Group to Call for Ban on Texting While Driving." New York Times (2009). Part 3: Introduction Experimenting and the desire to take risk seem to be the norm of the contemporary society. Technology has simplified many things that people do in the current digital era. Many people take many things for granted because they are now loose with things that needed care and caution. Adopting the Public Service Announcement method to control or curb distracted driving, therefore, will only be futile. Most people, precisely drivers, have a strong believe and confidence that they can do several tasks at once. They may not even realize that they are doing several tasks at the same time (Heckscher 7). However, some people have the attitude of wanting to challenge or prove different. Therefore, using the PSA in controlling distracted driving will be unsuccessful. This, however, is with the exception of the keen drivers who may be courteous to adhere to the announcements. Part 4: Body Paragraphs Public Service Announcement is an important and recommendable method of passing instructions, messages, or guidelines in a broadcasted method. Notably though, many people tend to ignore and assume publicly passed messages especially if there are not addressed specifically. Using PSA to control distracted driving will most likely be fruitless. Drivers will probably ignore and still engage in distractive activities such as texting and speaking over the phone. In any case, most of them do these things unknowing (Richtel 64). Further, may will become used to the PSA and resume the distracted driving practices. Humans are cultured best when cautious of some consequences that follow a certain behavior (Richtel 65). Therefore, it would only help to have stern consequences for drivers caught texting or making calls while driving. The current technological trend has seen a shift towards the use of social media for communication. Using media such as the radio and television may not reach a wide audience to warrant success of the PSA approach (Heckscher 8). This is a great limitation because many people will still not get the information, which makes Public Service Address unreliable and doomed to fail to control distracted driving. In any case, how can PSA succeed if it does not reach the young people who are prone to distraction while driving? Public Service Announcement may not have the desired impact on the liberal community. Different people have different perceptions about distracted driving. Some believe that distracted driving is more than just texting or using the phone while driving (Watkins-Hughes). Some feel that using the phone is not distraction much as one can perform several tasks at the same time. Others associate distracted driving with poor knowledge of traffic rules (Nelson 20). Using PSA, therefore, may not change people’s mentality on distracted driving. Hence, PSA will fail to minimize such incidences much as the method may have been well intended. Conclusion In summary, using PSA to control distracted driving may not be fruitful as desired. People tend to ignore things that seem intended for the public such as the PSA. Many believe in their personality that they can multitask whereas some find themselves multitasking unknowingly. However, PSA may not reach the desired audience because many people have turned to the social media for information much as the approach may not have noticeable impact on the liberal community. In any case, different people have different perceptions about distracted driving. Thus, the PSA may not curb the menace on its own. Works Cited Heckscher, Melissa. "Text messaging adds to growing accident statistics of 'inattentive' drivers." The Paramus Post (2006): 7-10. Nelson, Atchley. "The Effects of Perception of Risk and Importance of Answering and Initiating a Cellular Phone Call While Driving." Accident Analysis and Prevention (2009): 16-23. Richtel, Matt. "Safety Group to Call for Ban on Texting While Driving." New York Times (2009). Watkins-Hughes, Peter. PSA Texting while Driving: Newport School. Gwent: Wales Publishers, 2009.