Vehicle: USA Today
October 4, 2018
Writer: Nathan Boomey
Client: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Original headline: 37K –Plus killed in 2017 car crashes, US says
Sentiment: Negative
Although U.S. deaths fell in 2017 due to car accidents, it was still the second deadliest year on road in the past decade. In 2017, 37,133 people were killed in traffic crashes which is down 1.8 percent from 2016.
Heidi King the deputy administrator for NHTSA (National Traffic Safety Administration) said that there was no specific reason for the slight decline in pedestrians killed. However, King said that percentage reported for distracted driving impacting the death toll is probably much higher than the reported 8.5 percent.
Photo from USA Today
As the public relations professional working for the NHTSA, I would take into account how alarming these numbers are. I think that if there is a re-occurring problem of distracted drivers taking the lives of innocent people, there needs to be a campaign put in place funded by the NHTSA. Personally, I do not think this organization is as involved and as concerned as they should be regarding this alarming number.
A strategic campaign that involves guerrilla marketing, and targeted ads on social media that provide information in a eye-catching way would make people pay attention to the true harms that come along with driving. The NHTSA should then track to see how much of an impact their campaign made on the safeness and well being of their drivers on the road.
I agree that something needs to be done about these shocking numbers. I sometimes feel like as a society we are kind of immune to car accidents because they happen so often and people always think “it won’t happen to me.” The reality is that it could happen to anybody and driving distracted is not something to take lightly. There definitely could be a stronger effort made to highlight the dangers of driving and ways to influence people to take safer measures when they get behind the wheel.