Hi, let me educate you.

[kyburg]

BY SCARING YOU WITLESS.

Tell me if this ever worked for you.

It worked DAMN well when I was in 4th grade and they used pictures and data culled from England to 'educate' us about LSD, pot and barbituates.

Uh. Like, dead bodies. I was oh - about 8 or 9. (BTW, withdrawl from barbituates? Those days, you frothed at the mouth and nose and died. Period. Full stop.)

I got so scared about anything getting in my stuff I ended up on the couch over it. Because 'tee hee' they could put LSD into ANYTHING and you'd never know. Well, and they did too. Ask n6vfp, you don't believe me.

Taking anything for recreational purposes just never sat right with me. I'm just at the point these days when I'll drink something to the point of feeling the effect - no, never had a hangover, not once. Ever.

So when this little video crossed my path this AM, I watched - was impressed - and decided to pass it on.

A new British PSA attempting to discourage teenagers from texting while driving is actually a four-minute, 15-second journey into YouTube hell. If the graphic, slo-mo head-on collision doesn’t have you covering your bleary eyes in horror, then perhaps the followup, side-impact crash will accomplish that task.

Oh, it's well done. Keep in mind my background working in hospitals - me, family and yeah.

And I'm reminded I need to update our kits in the cars.

EDIT: I'm tempted to tell you about one big boner as far as actual effect is concerned - dedoc would pick it up in a red hot second - then my self-restraint kicked in. No, you don't need to know what that actually would look like - it would break your heart - and I shouldn't know this much about it.)

EDIT EDIT: HAHA. 1:20, there's unclejimbo.

Comments

[neintales.livejournal.com]

When I took driver's ed in the late 90's in TX, there was a video with interviewed family of people who'd lost loved ones due to drunk/unsafe driving, and lots of images of wreck scenes where cars were utter PASTE, sometimes still with signs of the people who'd been in them, though not real close ups or such. Also of course video of dummy crashes to show how things happened with 'average' cars.

Affected me, yes, because I had seen wrecks too close for comfort before and had a very good imagination when it came to what those CRUNCHES may have sounded/felt like.

Affected the other young driver-wannabes?

The various 16 to 17 year olds around me basically talked during break about how BULLSHIT the films were, because it was totally actors for the families, and blah blah would not happen to them, had not happened to people they knew, blah blah, wrecks can happen even if you're sober and going slow so WHY CARE... blah blah... we are IMMORTAL.

I was terrified that these asshat kids were going to be on the same damn roads as me shortly. Most of them were MUCH more comfortable behind a wheel and doing 'better' on the driving thing when we were in vehicles, but good grief, those attitudes....

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Well, the current problem is that most schools no longer support driver's ed at all. And you can tell the diff in teh driving of young people who've had some basic ed on physics ("Lookie--here, head, meet wall at 90 mph") vs. those who haven't a flippin' clue and never had to learn anything about Reality Checks.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

And my kids won't drive before 19. Really. Watch me.

[pagawne.livejournal.com]

It's even more "fun when the victim comes in on two gurnies. May I never have to see that again.

[redqueenofevil.livejournal.com]

0_o? I remember seeing that once after a drunk driving accident occurred right by our house. THAT has stuck with me, and if I drink so much as a glass of wine, I don't drive- period.

[muimi07.livejournal.com]

Gruesome. Upsetting as hell around the 2:05; I nearly burst into tears.

I figure that I wouldn't have any problems with asshat drivers that swear they're immortal if they'd just do the world a favor and off themselves only. But no, inevitably, they are immortal and they take innocent people with them.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

As I said on Twitter - I am GLAD this doesn't stop at the moment of impact.

[redqueenofevil.livejournal.com]

I saw this video a few days ago, and was really upset about it. Of course, the British have a way of really driving home things like this in their ads. I saw one narrated by Jeremy Clarkson (of Top Gear fame), and though he's usually rather humorous on the tube, it was a really graphic commercial. I never wanted to see that again- not remotely funny.

A few months back, there was an op-ed somewhere like Jalopnik, where people wrote in talking about how their vehicles were totaled by drivers who were texting, and not watching the road. In one case, the car totaled was at a stop sign, and hit from behind. Still, despite the fact that it's illegal to text in the state of California, I still see numerous drivers using their mobiles without a hands free option. These people never get pulled over, and it really irks me, because said drivers are as dangerous as the texting crowd.

Food for thought.

[purrplexitty.livejournal.com]

It's definitely illegal in California. And yet today I was nearly t-boned by a jack ass running a red light while he was texting.

I really wish they DID get pulled over, but I've never seen it happen. It irks me. I see people getting pulled over for being on their phones without headsets, but texters? Never. And I agree, it's dangerous. It's MORE dangerous than talking on your phone!

I think it really got to me when I had to ask a friend on more than one occasion to stop messing with their phone while they were driving, or I was going to get out of the car. I swear, it's like an addiction. They can't just ignore it.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

I keep thinking about 1) a dozen eggs or 2) paintball gun in the car for just such occasions.

[unclejimbo.livejournal.com]

They didn't pull any punches and having responded to several accidents like this one in the portrayal, they had it just about right.

I remember one night we responded to a crash involving a 21 y/o who was celebrating his birthday with his friends. He and two girls in back made it to the hospital, but his buddy in the front seat did not survive. (I could get more graphic, but it would serve no purpose.)

[poetpaladin.livejournal.com]

Yeah I watched it. Pretty good!

[ms-hecubus.livejournal.com]

There's a mod over on anony_moms who fueled a bunch of drama by saying that she was posting while driving. Additionally, she said it was OK because her kids weren't in the car and it's not illegal in her state. Do you know how badly I want to post this video on that group as a dig? SOOOOOOOOOOO BADLY!

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

DO IT.

[batshua]

Yes. And then tell us about what happens!