Our Favorite Campaign Against Texting And Driving

Posted on 5/29/2013

Written by David J. DeLuca

By now, you have probably heard one of these ridiculously frightening statistics about texting and-driving:

● Texting drivers are 23% more likely to get in a crash.

● Sending a text at 55 mph takes your eyes off the road for the length of a football field.

● Texting and driving is the number 1 killers of teens.

That last one sends parents into a fear frenzy. In that crazed state, adults will often react by sitting young people down and repeatedly hammering the dangers of texting and driving into their heads.

The thought is this: it’s scary, so young people should be scared. But there’s a better way to get teens to stop texting and driving.

Make it fun.

That’s what DoSomething.org does with Thumb Wars. Together with Sprint and Toyota, we give teens two free pairs of thumb socks, which, when worn, remind them not to text and drive. They also receive a second pair to share with a friend. They wear and share the socks. But, they do more than that.

They stage dramatic interventions…

…lay some serious knowledge on their parents’ faces…

…and, of course, put them on their cat.

It might seem silly, but silly works. We surveyed teens who received thumb socks compared to those who didn’t and found that those with socks were less likely to text and drive and more likely to speak up when others do it. Over half said the person they shared socks with changed their driving habits for the better.

Why does fun work? Look again at those pictures. These are photos of people who care about each other, are having a good time together, and are asking each other to be safe with love, not fear.

There are few things more powerful than that.

If you have a young person in your life that you care about, you can send them to dosomething.org/thumbsocks for their two free pairs. They can also text THUMBS to 38383. We know thumb socks help prevent texting and driving, and its principles are applicable to other issues, too.

When you talk to a young person about something serious, don’t default to doom and gloom. Ask yourself how you can make it fun or even silly. For young people, fun doesn’t trivialize or minimize; it helps them engage and enjoy.

And, as we’ve learned, it also helps them save lives.

Meet David

David J DeLuca is the Head of Campaigns at DoSomething.org, where he and his team get young people to take action on causes that they care about (in sometimes silly ways). Thumb Wars is done in partnership with Sprint and Toyota.

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