Reverse Psychology: Forcing Teens to Text and Drive

A Belgium group called Responsible Young Drivers resorted to a unique way to send a message about texting while driving. It forced teens to text and drive to prove how dangerous it is.

In the video, a phony driving-school instructor explains a new law mandating that motorists must be able to use a mobile phone while driving. Drivers in the video are flustered, and none of them performed well on the closed course.

"More and more traffic accidents are due to texting. If we want to reduce the 1.2 million traffic victims worldwide each year, we have to act. How do you convince youngsters not to text while driving?," the group said on its YouTube page.

Watch the video below.

Comments

I think this approach by the driving school in Belgium will help these young drivers get the message. It has to start with the end user, the driver…deciding not to partake in distracted driving and this will help drive that message home.

I also decided to do something about teen (and adult) distracted driving after my three year old daughter was nearly run down right in front of me by a texting driver. Instead of a shackle that locks down phones and alienates the user (especially teens) I built a tool for teens and their parents called OTTER that is a simple, GPS based, texting auto reply app for smartphones. It also silences call ringtones while driving unless you have a bluetooth enabled. I think if we can empower the individual then change will come to our highways now and not just our laws.

Erik Wood, owner
OTTER app
do one thing well… be great.

mmm... sounds like a good idea