Don’t drive like a zombie

I was rather disappointed by this distracted driving PSA from California’s Office of Traffic Safety.

First of all, zombies? If you’re going to hop on the undead bandwagon, you’re going to have to do something outstanding. And second, the issue of distracted driving is a very serious one that can literally be a matter of life or death. The comedy approach seems misplaced.

I have a hard time even accepting the comparison of a texting driver to a mindless zombie. People don’t do these things because they’re stupid, they do them because they are overconfident in their driving ability and don’t take the driving task seriously. The zombie idea neither shames them accurately, nor could possibly lead to personal behaviour change.

There’s a whole series of “zombie driver” campaign ads online at the California OTC YouTube page. They are much better than the one above, because they’re not only more interesting to watch but provide positive and usable information while they entertain.

See them after the break.