Though its purpose was to remind drivers of the consequences of distracted driving and to pay attention to the road, the billboard is quite... eye-catching for the drivers.
According to autoblog.com, the new billboard campaign was launched by the National Safety Council (NSC), aiming to reach to 67 markets nationwide and to more than 1 million people daily. The billboards feature pictures of Linda, a 61-year-old wife, mother and grandmother, and a 12-year-old boy named Joe, both killed in car crashes caused by drivers using cell phones.
The name of the campaign was given from the words of Linda’s daughter, describing what happened to her mother. “My mother died within a couple of hours from blunt force trauma to the head, neck and chest. I just call it death by cell phone."
The billboards invite drivers to visit the deathbycellphone website, where they can watch a short video that tells the stories of the two. Linda’s daughter and little Joe’s father are featured in the video, begging for drivers to hang up their cell phones and stop text messaging while driving.
"I can close my eyes and envision, maybe it is five years from now, maybe it is 10 years, when we can all look back and say 'hey, remember when we all used to talk on cell phones when we drove? What idiots we were to do that," Joe’s father said.
After his son’s death, the man focused on educating the public on the dangers caused by the use of cell phone while driving, and even joined the NSC in April, accepting the the Senior Director in Transportation Strategic Initiative position.
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