French agency La Chose Releases Poignant Print Campaign for French Road Safety

Apr. 04, 2019

Kill or get killed. Was it worth reading that text message? Or answering that call or that email? In its new poster and radio campaign, released on April 2nd, Sécurité Routière highlights the absurdity of people's compulsive use of the telephone behind the wheel in light of the huge risks incurred.

"Be sure to tell his children that you really had to answer that sms", "Be sure to tell his wife that you absolutely had to take that call", "Be sure to tell his family that you positively had to read that email" these dramatic statements printed over images of lifeless bodies draw the attention of road users to the dangers of this distractor.

KEY FIGURES OF TELEPHONE USE BEHIND THE WHEEL.

• Telephone conversations while driving are responsible for one bodily injury in 10
• Telephone use behind the wheel multiplies the risk of an accident by 3
• A person using his phone while driving registers between 30 and 50% less road information
• Reading a message behind the wheel entails averting one's eyes from the road for 5 seconds. At 50 km/h, 5 seconds corresponds to a distance of 70 meters…
• Reading a message while driving multiplies the risk of an accident by at least 23.

Marius' Testimony:

I received a telephone call, and wanted to know what it was about. So I lowered my head to see (…) and when I looked up again I'd changed direction and veered off course. I hit a tree and smashed my cervical vertebrae (…) so I'm now quadriplegic.