In an effort to curb distracted driving, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched a new social media campaign thatrelies on public shaming to accomplish its goals.
Often, we think of distracted drivers as those who are texting while driving, and while that is certainly true of many drivers who use mobile devices whiledriving, not all cases involve texting. In fact, a large number of drivers who use mobile devices while driving are actually updating social mediastatuses: sending Snapchat messages, posting to Instagram, tweeting to Twitter followers, and updating their Facebook profiles.
(You may remember the story of Courtney Ann Sanford,the 32-year-old driver who was killed shortly after taking selfies and updating her Facebook while driving. Sanford posted, "This song makes me HAPPY,"in reference to the song by Pharrell Williams at 8:33 a.m. Exactly one minute later, 911 operators got a call in reference to a one-car accident thatleft Sanford dead.)
In an effort to hit distracted drivers where they'll see the message, the NHTSA has started to responding to Twitter messages that reference distracteddriving by using the hashtag #JustDrive.
Twitter screen grab from Consumerist.com
According to NHTSA administrator Mark Rosekind, "lives are at stake"when drivers give in to distractions, and the agency is seeking a behavior change from those who use mobile devices and text while driving. "Peopleneed to understand the potential price of distracted driving. The cost of a ticket is nothing, compared to the irrevocable cost of taking someone�slife."
Certainly, responding to social media posts about texting and driving or using social media while driving will be eye-catching. Not only is the driverlikely to see the #justdrive response, but his or her followers will all see their contact being called out by the NHTSA. However, it might be concerningthat a person using social media while driving would be further distracted by the response notification or by reading the reply left by the NHTSA.
What are your thoughts? Is social media shaming by the NHTSA campaign a good strategy for increasing awareness of the dangers of distracted driving? Oris the campaign guilty of adding further distraction?
