Advertising Groups Team Up With Top Safety Agency for Out-of-Home Anti-Texting Campaign

Public service announcements will be featured on billboards and bus shelters in time for Global Youth Traffic Safety Month.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is expanding its anti-texting — “Stop the Texts. Stop the Wrecks.” — campaign on billboards and bus shelters at the beginning of the summer driving season, which according to statistics, is twice as deadly as the rest of the year combined.

More than 1,000 billboards and bus shelters will display anti-texting messages, along with public service posters in airports, phone kiosks and newsstands. According to NHTSA, drivers who use hand-held devices are four times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.

“Texting behind the wheel is a dangerous practice that can have devastating consequences on our nation’s roadways,” said David Strickland, administrator of NHTSA. “The campaign is aimed at urging drivers, teens in particular, to stay focused every time they get behind the wheel.”

Strickland announced the public service effort with agency partners the Ad Council and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA). Members of the OAAA will donate space to the campaign throughout the month of May, which is Global Youth Traffic Safety Month.

“We are proud to have worked with NHTSA since 1983 to reduce impaired driving. From iconic taglines like ’Drinking and Driving Can Kill A Friendship,’ and ’Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk,’ we have produced strong messages and activated a wide media network to make a real difference,” said Ad Council president & CEO Peggy Conlon.

The “Stop the Texts. Stop the Wrecks” campaign launched in October 2011 in response to the growing number of fatalities caused by distracted driving. According to a national survey conducted by the Ad Council in June 2012, young adult drivers have absorbed several key messages since the launch of the campaign:

• 51% of young adult drivers report that they are “extremely concerned” about their peers texting while driving, which represents an increase of 7% since September 2011.
• 34% of respondents said that they never text while driving, a significant increase from 28% in 2011.