Messages

Message 1 is a fear-inducing message using the four components. The message states that "Driving stupid can really make you look bad." If you don't want to look bad, don't drive stupid. using cell phones is a means of driving stupid. If you want to look good, don't talk on the cell phone while driving.

Message 2 is a simple message with distractors (random images and animated clip art) designed to induce peripheral route processing. The message is simple: poor driving can increase irritability, inattentiveness and frustration, and increase the likelihood of an accident. The surrounding images either refer to the message in some way or do not. Either way, the surrounding images can be distracting to the viewer grasping the message.


Message 3 is a two-sided message designed to appeal to central route processing. One side says driving with cell phones are okay (the image of the happy girl talking on the phone in the driver's seat), while the other side says that driving with cell phones can be dangerous and hazardous (the image of the victim being taken out of the crushed car). While cleary driving and talking with friends can be fun, the consequences are not.

pro's and con's

vs








There are two sides to this debate: the side that states that cell phone use while driving is bad for the driver and everyone around him and the other side that defends cell phone use in cars saying it is not that bad. Driving with cell phones provide the driver and the car's occupants the ability of instant access to friends, family and other necessities.

Jerry Wilson states in his article "Cell Phones and Driving":

• Anything that causes a distraction might lead to an increased risk of having an accident. But that doesn’t mean there should be a law against it. It should be left up to people’s common sense....We have enough laws that limit personal freedoms, such as the seat belt laws. We don’t need another one.

Yes, it is fun to talk to your friends and family while driving home or going out. Common sense, though, may not be enough for everyone as a means of safe driving. It is easy to be distracted. As much as people enjoy their cell phones however there is no denying that cell phones are not a positive to have while driving. Scientific experimentation done at the University of Utah has found evidence that "Drivers on Cell Phones Are as Bad as Drunks." Some of the evidence states:

• Motorists who talked on either handheld or hands-free cell phones drove slightly slower, were 9 percent slower to hit the brakes, displayed 24 percent more variation in following distance as their attention switched between driving and conversing, were 19 percent slower to resume normal speed after braking and were more likely to crash. Three study participants rear-ended the pace car. All were talking on cell phones. None were drunk.
• Drivers drunk at the 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level drove a bit more slowly than both undistracted drivers and drivers using cell phones, yet more aggressively. They followed the pace car more closely, were twice as likely to brake only four seconds before a collision would have occurred, and hit their brakes with 23 percent more force. “Neither accident rates, nor reaction times to vehicles braking in front of the participant, nor recovery of lost speed following braking differed significantly” from undistracted drivers, the researchers write.

So as much as people say that cell phones do not pose a problem to people when they are driving I believe them to be misinformed as do the people at the University of Utah and most motorists in the greater United States.

Cell Phone use while driving anywhere is bad. It can make one ... irritable and increases the likeliness of accident or injury.

Every year tens of thousands of people are hurt or killed as a result of talking on their cell phone while driving or being hit by someone also talking on their cell phone. People driving while on their cell phones cannot pay the needed attention to the road which increases the amount of people getting hurt

No matter how good a driver you think you are, the chance of you getting in an accident while talking on your cell phone are as high as after a night at the bar.

Not talking on your cell phone while driving frees up your attention allowing you to pay attention to the road and be more mindful of oncoming dangers and risks which gives you a much better chance of avoiding them.

A simple fix is to simply turn off your cell phones while driving. Because what is more painful? Living for 20 minutes with a turned off cell phone or living for the rest of your life with a type of paralysis or other serious injury.
And if you can't bear to turn off your cellphone simply pull off the side of the road into one of the designated pull over lanes and take whatever call is coming in or make whatever call you need to make. Then when you are finished, resume driving.

Message information

Message 1 uses classical conditioning by pairing cell phone use while driving with an image of a ruined car. This will hopefully turn people off to the idea of using cell phones while operating a car.

Message 2 uses classical conditioning by showing a familiar figure, Uncle Sam, asking you not to use cell phones.

Message 3 is a larger version of our repetitive classical coniditioning.

Message 4 is a description on possible subliminal messaging.

Messages 5 and 6 are descriptions and links for credible communicating organizations that have information on the dangers of using cell phones while driving.

Here is a link to the survey we have created about cell phones and driving.

Advocates for Crash Prevention

http://www.crashprevention.org/

Crash Prevention is a credible communicating organization intending on sending advocates of the program out and speaking to the public, informing them of the harms of reckless driving and what means may be done to encourage prevention. The site houses crash statistics and articles pretaining to the causes of reckless driving and its concequences.

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety

http://www.saferoads.org/issues/fs-GDL.htm

The Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety is a credible communicating organization set on administering to the public up-to-date information on individual state driving laws, Federal Legislative Programs regarding driving and detailed reports about driving impairments, such as cell phone usage.