If a picture is worth a thousand words, this one-and-a-half minute commercial by car manufacturer Volkswagen is worth a million. The ad, called “Eyes on the Road”, left me speechless and is hands down the most effective warning against texting-and-driving I have ever seen.
Volkswagen equipped a Hong Kong movie theater with a location-based broadcaster that could send a text message to everyone in the theater simultaneously. As unsuspecting teenagers waited for their movie to start, they saw instead a large-screen version of the view from behind a steering wheel (of a Volkswagen of course).
Their looks of perplexity were interrupted by a text message…to everyone in the theater. The eager teens reached for the phones that lit the theater like lightning bugs on a dark night. As they looked down from the virtual behind-the-wheel view to read the message – well, just watch the video.
http://youtu.be/JHixeIr_6BM
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched a series of distracted driving PSAs for April’s National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. They are accurate, graphic depictions of what it looks like for a driver to be texting one second, and hit by a semi the next. I understand the NHTSA’s urgency to curb this growing epidemic. Our firm gave a presentation to high school students about about texting and distracted driving and we have seen how one impulsive decision can alter a person’s trajectory for life. The NHTSA ads were an exceptional effort by an agency battling a serious public safety concern, but in my opinion the Volkswagen ad is much more effective.
Teenagers never think they will be the ones in the wreck. Sure, texting and driving kills, but it won’t killthem. Volkswagen’s use of high-tech messaging put the moviegoers in the driver’s seat. Although we aren’t in the theater with them, we are privy to their reactions – a hundred stunned, scared faces still grasping their cell phones in bewilderment – as they make the connection: “That could have been me.”
And that’s the message we’re trying to convey as parents, isn’t it? It could be you. Statistically, it’s likely to be you. I don’t want it to be you, and you don’t either.
AM
Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
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