Insurance comparison website Kanetix.ca has launched a social media campaign to educate people about the dangers of distracted driving.
The company learned that distracted driving contributed to more road fatalities than both speeding and impaired driving in Ontario last year.
“We were really shocked to find that out, so it got us thinking about how we could raise awareness for distracted driving,” said Leonie Tait, marketing manager at Kanetix.ca.
While texting and driving is a well-known distraction, others can be just as dangerous: a Kanetix survey found that 89% of Canadians feel children in the car can be a distraction, 39% eat or drink behind the wheel, and 7% admit to applying makeup while driving.
At DistractedToDeath.com, people are asked to take a pledge (via Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus) to not drive distracted. For each pledge, Kanetix will donate $1 towards educating teens about the dangers of distracted driving. The goal is to raise $10,000 for Teens Learn to Drive, a non-profit that focuses on reducing death and injuries from auto accidents.
“The campaign is designed to make people stop and think about all those distractions that can put you at greater risk for having a collision, whether it’s your kid crying in the back seat, changing the radio station, or inputting directions into your GPS,” said Tait. “We hope that the pledging component and social component makes people listen and share [the message] with their social communities. We really need to start making distracted driving something that is just not acceptable.”
The campaign, which was created in-house, is being promoted via social channels, as well as digital and print ads. A street event will be held on Sept. 5 in Toronto, where teams will raise awareness for the cause and ask people to take the pledge.
BlueSky Communications is handling PR.
