Social Media PSA

To operate safely and properly on the roadway, first responders need help from the motoring public. That’s the premise of Respondersafety.com’s public education effort, launched in February 2018 with the help of Stonehouse Media, to educate motorists about simple things they can do to give responders room to work on the roadway during an emergency incident. The effort unites several separate initiatives in public education, including distracted driving prevention, move over laws awareness, and fender bender laws awareness into one comprehensive resource page for Public Information Officers (PIOs) and public educators to use. The resources on the page include videos, print materials, social media posts, a press package, and media contact templates that enable PIOs and public educators to get the word out about what motorists can do to stay clear of emergency incidents and not endanger the lives of responders with their driving practices. Many of the resources can be customized by the PIO or public educators.

Stonehouse wrote and produced many of the videos, print pieces, and media contact templates available on the page. One example is the social media PSAs, which were designed to be 15-20 seconds long for social media. The Leave Your Phone Alone PSA applies the distracted driving prevention message to the context of driver actions when passing an emergency response scene. In just a few seconds, making it perfect for posting and sharing, viewers learn what NOT to do when passing an emergency incident. The goal is for motorists to respond to the need to keep responders safe and protect victims’ privacy by passing the incident without using their phones, to text, take photos, or shoot video. Since the Leave Your Phone Alone PSA was released, it has over 1000 views.