The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is partnering with students from the Indian Community School of Milwaukee to air a 30-second public service announcement highlighting the danger of distracted driving.
Senior Manager at the DOT, David Pabst, says the message is designed for all drivers.......
"...We're having the tribal youth that created a very nice PSA(public service announcement) for us and others. We're pushing it out to draw attention to districated driving. Not only for youth but everyone who drives....."
Pabst details the effort...
"....The Tribal Safety Coalition has formed a coalition with 11 tribes, the DOT, Indian Health Services and the Bureau of Transportation Safety as well as the State Patrol. They've created a culturally relevant marketing material which is the video shoot they did for distracted driving. So we're doing a campaign where they're going to travel around the state and show and release the PSA and explain what they did in their passion for highway safety...."
Pabst says the number of crashes resulting from distracted driving is growing...
"...In the past five years there have been over 100,000 distracted driving crashes. Nearly one-third of those crashes caused injuries. 454 people were killed. Almost 33,000 of those crashes occured in June, July and August, so summer is a perfect time to emphasize to put the phone down until you get home...."
The DOT held a media briefing on the campaign yesterday in Wausau, among other stops.
