Ad Council of Rochester Distracted Driving Campaign Student Guide

Transcription

1 Ad Council of Rochester Distracted Driving Campaign Student Guide Thank you for helping with the Ad Council of Rochester s Yeah, You re That Distracting campaign! With your help, we can make a difference in our community. Distracted driving resulting from cell phone usage is a major problem in the Greater Rochester area: At any given moment, at least 1 in 22 drivers on the road in our area is engaged in an illegal activity relating to mobile phone use. Half of all area residents say they have been in a near miss situation due to someone else s cell phone usage. Academic research has shown that using a cell phone in a car in any fashion is as dangerous as driving drunk. Texting is three times more dangerous than driving drunk. Distracted driving is the single biggest cause of death for teens. The Ad Council has put together a committed network of employers, health professionals, law enforcement personnel, and local government leaders to help address this issue. But, we won t get far without the help and commitment of young adults in our community, and that is where you come in. As a student volunteer for this program you will be your school s leader on this issue, and a key advocate for the program in your school and community. Your work will be to implement a set of marketing tactics. These are simple things you can do yourself or with a partner. Some will require you to work with adults in your school. By helping out, you will receive credit for 20 volunteer hours, which you can use for your National Honor Society requirement, mention on your college applications, etc. More importantly you will be making a difference in your community. Yeah, You re That Distracting We designed the Yeah, You re That Distracting campaign ( in 2012 with the help of local marketing professionals. This is a bit different than other distracting driving campaigns you might see. We realized early on that we didn t have to raise awareness of the issue. Everyone sees distracted drivers on the road on a daily basis. We didn t feel we needed to convince people that distracted driving is a bad thing either. Most people admit this already. We conducted a survey that showed people in our area know distracted driving is a problem and understand it is something that has to change. Yet, they also tell us that they feel it is safe when they themselves use a cell phone while driving. So, how do we convince people to stop? When thinking about how to approach the issue, we thought about how people make decisions. People tend to be rational about things when they are in a cold state and not in the moment. As an example, suppose you want to eat healthier foods. When you aren t hungry, you may even make commitments or promises to yourself to not eat certain unhealthy foods. But imagine now that you are hungry. And faced with a large hot pizza, tangy chicken wings or a big bowl of ice cream. In this hot

2 state you may not keep those promises to yourself. Your hot state behavior didn t match up with your cold state intentions. When in the moment, people often do things they know they shouldn t do. The same psychology applies to distracted driving. When we speak to people about the issue they know they shouldn t do it and they may even state their intention to not do it. But, when they get in a hot state in their car when someone calls or texts them - they often don t behave rationally. We all know how hard it is to ignore that ring or buzz when our phone goes off. So what to do? Rather than doing what most others are doing simply hammering a message people already know we decided not to focus on the driver at all. The Ad Council of Rochester is taking a new approach focusing on the person outside of the car. We're reminding everyone of their powerful role in distracted driving and sending a simple message: if you're talking or texting with someone on the road, hold the conversation until a safer time. Our message is simple. If you know someone is driving, don t call or text them. By doing so, you are putting them at an incredible risk. If you reach someone who is driving, call back later. It is our belief that the person outside the car is more able to be safe, by holding their call or text until a safer time. It is also our belief that you yes YOU have a powerful opportunity to help us save lives in your community. Our expectations of student volunteers In the fall of 2014, this program will be offered to all Section V districts. We don t expect this to be difficult or to take a lot of time, but it is critical that you are fully committed to making this happen in your school. We can only be successful with your help. You and another student will be the key point person to launch and run the campaign in your school. You will work with an adult contact person in your school to ensure you have the resources you need. Of course, if you ever have any questions, you can contact us for help. Kick- off event August 19th at 10:30 On August 19th at 10:30 am and running till approximately 12:30, we will be holding a training event and press conference. Attendance at this event is required. This event will be held at Victor High School located at 953 High Street, Victor, NY You will likely be on TV at this event, so please come dressed in a t- shirt or sweatshirt that has your school name and/or logo on it. Your friends and parents are welcome to attend as well. The first hour of this event will be a training session. We will describe the campaign, talk through each marketing tactic, and describe what we would like you to do. There will be time for questions and for you to meet the students from other districts who are helping out. After the training portion is complete, local newspapers, radio, and TV stations will join us to hear what we are doing and about your involvement. They will want to interview and speak to a number of our student volunteers. This event will help draw a great deal of positive attention to this issue just as the school year is beginning and it should be a lot of fun. What you will do Below is a list of marketing tactics that we expect you to make happen in your school. Most materials you will need can be downloaded from the website Ad Council of Rochester 2

3 Before beginning, meet with the adult contact person at your school. If you are not sure who this is, just contact us and we will let you know. This can be a short meeting its purpose is for you to learn about issues specific to your school that you have to keep in mind and to review the to- do list below. If you ever have any concerns or questions, please feel free to contact us. After you meet with the adult in your school, you will: 1. Hang posters in multiple places in your high school and your middle school. Be sure that the posters go up in visible places from hallways to stairways to doors to the teacher lounge! During the year, if you see that posters have been damaged or removed, you will be responsible for replacing them. We will provide you with posters you need at the kick- off event, but you can contact us at any time if you need more. 2. Highlight the campaign with a letter or article in your student run newspaper. We have provided a sample article you can use (on the website). You can use this, change it or write a brand new story. Talk to the editor of your school newspaper early in the year to identify the best time for this to appear. 3. Ask your district Superintendent to highlight the campaign in an or newsletter that goes to the community. A sample article is provided on the website. Your Superintendent has agreed for your district to take part in this campaign, so he/she should be happy to help out. It would be best for you to send an to your Superintendent with this request, and then follow up with a phone call or meeting. 4. Get the campaign mentioned in your morning announcements at least 5 times in September and 5 additional times later in the first semester. We have provided a sample morning announcement on the website, but again, feel free to make changes to it to make it stand out. Your adult contact person can help you figure out how to make that happen. 5. Working with your adult contact, see if you can have our television advertisements placed on TVs at your school. Schools vary as to the opportunities they have to do this, so work with your adult contact to see what is possible. The TV ads are available on the website. 6. Play the television and radio spots in at least one school assembly early in the school year. This should be a school- wide assembly where most of your students will see and hear the ads. 7. Encourage teachers and students to place bumper stickers on their cars to show their support. At the kick- off meeting you will be provided with 150 small bumper stickers. Our goal here is to get key people in your school community to place them on their cars. Adults like your school Principal, School Counselors, Teachers, and Coaches. And students who drive cars to school. Please don t just hand these stickers out rather, be sure to hand them out to people who will actually put them on their cars. And, don t stick them on cars yourself without the owner s permission. 8. Come up with your own idea! Maybe you want to do a spot check at the exit to school grounds, and give out candy to people who are not holding their phones. Or maybe you want to create a distracted- driving- related float for the homecoming parade. Use your creativity to inspire people to be safe. 9. Complete our survey in November. We will be sending you a link to an online questionnaire in November. This will ask you about what you did in your school, what you think worked or didn t work, and how you think we should improve the program for next year. TIP: You may want to develop a Distracted Driving Prevention Week in your school, when you can do many of the above items an announcement each day, an assembly, bumper sticker distribution, newspaper article, etc. This can really make a big impression in your school Ad Council of Rochester 3

4 The Next Step Academy Distracted Driving Course Together with NextStepU, we have developed a short online course about distracted driving. You can find this course at: driving. This is an online course that takes about 15 minutes to complete. The course contains video lessons and activities, as well as a short quiz at the end. Your school has agreed to: 1. Make this course a required element for your district in some way, including as part of a health or drivers education curriculum, or as a prerequisite to obtaining a school parking pass. 2. Either require or highly encourage your teachers and staff to take the course. 3. Let your school community and parents know this course is available for free for anybody, and encourage them to take it. We would like you to help us be sure that this all happens. We expect you to do the following: 1. Take the course yourself. This is the best way to become familiar with it. Please do this before coming to the training session in August. 2. Meet with the adult contact person in your school. Ask him or her: a. What is being done to require students to take the course? b. How are we encouraging teachers and staff to take the course? c. What is being done to let the community know this is available? d. How can I help? 3. Let us know immediately if you feel not enough is being done to promote the Next Step course. We will then work with the adult contact person to help promote the course. Thank you! Thanks once again for taking part in this program. You are a very important part of its success. Remember - distracted driving is the number one killer of teens, and you ll be helping to ensure no one in your school community has to experience a terrible tragedy. Thanks for helping keep your friends and your community safe! Contact information If you have any questions, at any time, please contact us! Aaron Lattanzio Program Manager alattanzio@adcouncilroch.org Ad Council of Rochester 274 N Goodman St, Suite B269 Rochester, NY x208 So that we can keep in touch with you, please send an to Aaron with the following information: Your name, your school, your address and your cell phone number Ad Council of Rochester 4

5 Volunteer Certification Form: Ad Council of Rochester Yeah, You re That Distracting Campaign Submit this form to Aaron Lattanzio by November 14, 2014 Below is a checklist of activities. Please check the ones you were able to successfully accomplish in your school and community. Once we receive this, we will send you a form that certifies your involvement and that you can use for your volunteer hour requirements. Activity o Completed o Not Completed I attended the kick- off event on August 19th o Completed o Not Completed I met with adult contact person at my school before beginning activities. o Completed o Not Completed I hung posters in multiple places in the high school and middle school, including the teacher lounges. o Completed o Not Completed I made sure the campaign was highlighted in a letter or article in our student run newspaper. o Completed o Not Completed I worked with my school Superintendent to highlight the campaign in an or newsletter that goes to the community. o Completed o Not Completed I was able to get the campaign mentioned in the morning announcements at least 10 times. o Completed o Not Completed I had the TV advertisements placed on my school s TV network. o Completed o Not Completed I distributed bumper stickers to teachers and students. o Completed o Not Completed I took the Next Step Academy Distracted Driving course. o Completed o Not Completed Met with the adult contact person in my school to help promote the Next Step Academy course. o Completed o Not Completed Completed online questionnaire that was sent to you in early November. Something else I did: I have completed the activities I checked above relating to the Distracted Driving program. Your Signature Print Your Name Your School NOTE: If you are having trouble with any of these activities, please contact us - - we can help! 2014 Ad Council of Rochester 5