By Dave Bean, Content Editor, FMW
April 3, 2024
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) unveiled a refreshed promotion to reiterate the hazards of driving while distracted. The rebranded campaign is entitled Put the Phone Away or Pay and is aimed not only at restating the potential lethal consequences of driving while talking or texting on a mobile phone, but also the legal ramifications that can accompany such behavior, including monetary fines.
Prompting the revised NHTSA program was the release of distracted driver and fatality data from 2022, which revealed that more than 3300 people died and nearly 300,000 people were badly hurt in road accidents directly linked to driver distraction.
“Distracted driving is extremely dangerous,” NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman said. “Distraction comes in many forms, but it is also preventable. Our rebranded campaign reminds everyone to Put the Phone Away or Pay, because distracted driving can cost you in fines – or even cost your life or the life of someone else on the road.”
Especially vulnerable to the consequences of distracted driving are pedestrians, cyclists and other road users who were caught in the crosshairs of distracted drivers. Despite a decline in the number of traffic fatalities overall, more than 620 non-driver, non-passenger deaths represent an upward trajectory among those who are not in a vehicle, yet also legitimately utilize roads, sidewalks, and crosswalks.
To bolster the Put the Phone Away or Pay campaign, NHTSA spent $5 million on a national advertising promotion aimed at drivers under 35 – those whom statistics indicate are more likely to become a fatality as a result of distracted driving. The TV, radio and digital ads are slated to run the first week of April.
While the final numbers from 2023 are currently being analyzed, NHTSA projects that, once available, overall traffic fatality figures will demonstrate a nearly 4% decline from 2022. Further, Q4 2023 will see a seventh consecutive quarterly decrease in road deaths in the U.S.
To read the detailed NHTSA press release, click here.
