Essay Sample about Public Service Announcement PSA

The world is scary, and one of the most dangerous places is the open road. Although this might not come to mind first when thinking of dangerous things, there are many reasons why it is. Imagine a family crossing the road. They do all of the normal things like looking both ways before crossing and making sure that the cars are all stopped before walking, but they don't see one major thing. A car speeding down the lane. Behind the wheel is a distracted teen talking on the phone or fixing themselves before going somewhere important. In the blink of an eye, the kid the parents were holding hands with is suddenly on the ground, 5 feet away from them. The teen is in shambles at the realization of what they did. Considering that teens use their devices for about 9 hours per day, couldn't they have learned something to prevent this? Some people may say that PSAs don't do anything to help reduce distracted driving. It can be seen that since PSAs can be hit or miss with audiences, there is no actual way to prove that they help prevent accidents. The fact is, there are videos that show teens the consequences of distracted driving, but do they really work? The answer is yes; a PSA is one of the best ways you can tell a message to a large group of people, and it does help reduce the number of distracted driving accidents.

Firstly, a PSA is one of the best ways to convey a message to a large group of people, and it does help reduce the number of distracted driving accidents. A PSAs job is to tell the truth about what will happen in any scenario without sugar-coating any of the information. A study done in 2009 showed that “approximately 20% of the car crashes involving injuries in 2009 were reportedly due to distracted driving.“(Choi). In the usual driving PSA, there is usually a teen that causes an accident because they are on their phone instead of paying attention to the road. PSAs then, show gruesome outcomes of this that tend to traumatize the viewer just a tiny bit. This shows the viewer just how dangerous it is to be behind a wheel, and PSAs do this perfectly every time. With PSAs becoming a standard part of Drivers Ed, this will hopefully bring down the percentage of distracted driving accidents significantly. Not only would this protect the general public from any accidents, but this could help prevent distracted driving accidents in the coming generations.

Additionally, a PSA is also meant to help the viewer focus on what they should be focusing on instead of devices. They almost give the viewer a look into their “fear of their own possible death”(Bartal). This is an old method of teaching teens how to become conscious drivers, but there are other ways to accomplish this. Yusuke Hayashi states that “the new study shows that threat appeals that create a feeling of “anticipated regret” (of killing or injuring someone else), rather than the fear of causing harm to oneself, are also effective.”(Bartal). With this new fear, young drivers must learn to clear their minds from any distractions and focus on the matter at hand, not only for their safety but for the safety of others. This new mindset helps prevent hundreds of accidents, which is why it is such a key part of Driver's ed. As a matter of fact, "Pennsylvania reported a 5 percent drop in tickets written for distracted driving in 2018."(Bartal). This shows the amount of good a PSA can really do.

PSAs are just the tip of the iceberg for preventing accidents. A lot more can be done, but are they really doing enough? Out of the entire world. The United States has the highest number of distracted drivers, with "An astounding 69% of drivers (aged 18-64) in the U.S. admitted to using their cell phone while driving during the previous month."(Helbock). It appears as though PSAs aren't really working as well as people would have hoped. There are “as many as lately up to 97% of teenagers who are aware of this message."(Amanda K). If this were the case, then the percentage of distracted driving in America wouldn't be so high. This could be a result of bad habits taught by parents or guardians, or maybe they don't think that anything could happen to themselves. The fact of the matter is that an accident can happen to anyone. A study done in Florida shows that there are projected to be 43 car accidents every hour. While this information is limited to the state of Florida, it shows what can happen on the open road in the span of an hour. With PSAs making changes to the safety and awareness of young drivers, it should be noted that PSAs are in fact working better than ever before.

The overall effectiveness of PSAs in helping prevent accidents is very evident. With young drivers becoming exposed to what can really happen on the open road early on, it is less likely that they will be in as many accidents as they would have been in the beginning. It can be said that a PSA is one of the best ways to tell a message to a large group of people, and it does help reduce the number of distracted driving accidents. Although it can be stated that PSAs don't actually do anything to prevent accidents, numerous studies and evidence point to the conclusion that PSAs really do help prevent these tragedies. As time marches forwards, the only thing we can do is hope to see a day when there aren't any accidents on the open road, thanks to PSAs and other resources.