Persuasive Communication Campaign against Distracted Driving

Persuasive Communication Campaign against Distracted Driving
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Persuasive Communication Campaign against Distracted Driving
Introduction
The problem that my communication campaign is trying to help solve is distracted driving. In particular, it involves the driver’s engagement in other activities that take his or her attention away while behind the steering. The common driving distractors are eating, using a mobile phone, changing the car’s radio station, driving under the influence of alcohol, or having deep conversations with other car occupants. The topic of distracted driving is crucial to focus on since many people die annually from this problem. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), approximately 3,142 individuals died in 2020 from distracted driving (NHTSA, 2022). Texting has been identified to be the most significant distraction that can make a driver not concentrate on the road for around 5 seconds. If the driver is going at 55 miles per hour, taking 5 seconds off the road is equivalent to covering the length of a football field with one’s eyes closed. As such, if the driver loses focus on the road, the person might collide with oncoming traffic or hit stationary objects along the highway. The primary sponsor of my communication campaign against distracted driving is the NHTSA. The organization has been on the frontline to fight against distracted driving in the United States of America (USA) by educating people about the dangers of this problem. In addition, it has partnered with local and state police to keep individuals safe on the road. The target audience is young people aged between 17 to 27 years. The expected outcome of the campaign is to decrease the number of lives lost due to distracted driving. Distracted driving should be eliminated among young individuals to save more lives on the American road that are usually lost through increased accidents.
Target Audience
The target audience in my communication campaign against distracted driving is young people from 17 to 27 years. Based on the graph below, these are the individuals significantly affected by distracted driving, particularly texting while behind the steering wheel.
Figure 1
Percentage of Drivers Texting While Driving in 2019


(Source: /transportationsafety/distracted_driving/index.html)
Figure 1 shows that my target audience is likely to be distracted from driving by over 50% from texting while behind the steering wheel (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). The characteristics, psychographics, demographics, diversities, commonalities, inequities, equities, and other inclusionary information make my target audience prone to the problem of distracted driving. For instance, individuals aged between 17 and 27 years are curious, likely to use their phones while driving, hold deep conversations in the car, drive under the influence of drugs, and usually drive at high speed on the highway. Some of these people compete among themselves to see which car can go faster than others. Additionally, these individuals are heavy Internet users and cannot take around fifte...