Division C - Audio/Visual Tools of Public Relations
Category 4 - Film or Video Public Service/more than one minute
DUI Prevention: Saving Lives
City of Tallahassee
Golden Image Award
Judges' Award
Research/Situation Analysis:
Drunk drivers cause more than 20% of all traffic fatalities in the US
each year. Alcohol-related crashes kill someone every 31 minutes and
non-fatally injure someone every two minutes (NHTSA 2006). During 2005,
16,885 people in the U.S. died in alcohol-related motor vehicle
crashes, representing 39% of all traffic-related deaths (NHTSA 2006).
The Tallahassee Police Dept. (TPD) arrests more than 400 people a year
for drinking and driving. In 2005, they reported 27 crashes, with 29
fatalities, 33% of which were alcohol related and 28% of which involved
people between 16 and 24. As home to more than 60,000 college students,
drinking and driving is seen as a particular challenge in this “college
town.” To help address the problem, TPD initiated a variety of programs
to educate young drivers and to get drunk drivers off the streets.
These efforts resulted in TPD’s traffic unit being named the Best in
the Nation by the National Association of Chiefs of Police. The city’s
communications team was asked to create a broad-based program that
would communicate the devastating impacts of drinking and driving –
particularly targeted to young drivers – and to promote what TPD was
doing to help keep young people and its streets safe. A video was seen
as the best tool to implement the plan, based on feedback from local
university and school contacts. As a local student said in a newspaper
article, “Watching a video or talking to someone who had lived through
drunk driving is effective.”
Objectives: 1) Communicate the hazards of
drinking and driving by producing a video to reach at least 10,000
individuals. 2) Produce a short version of the video to post on YouTube
to generate at least 500 views of the video locally and across the
country. 3) Reinforce the leadership role of TPD locally and nationally
and personally reach young drivers through at least 3 outreach
sessions/opportunities 4) Garner at least 2 local media impressions.
Implementation: The original idea for the video
came from a city employee whose 19-year-old son, Justin, had nearly
lost his life after a serious drinking and driving accident. Further
research brought forth the story of a young Tallahassee man, Eric, who
is currently serving a 22-year sentence for the death of two young
women in a car accident when he was driving under the influence. City
WCOT-TV producer Tom Bronakoski traveled to prison to interview Eric,
and also interviewed his family as well as the sisters and mother of
one of the victims, and gathered heart-wrenching photos of the
accident, the trial and prison life. He further interviewed Justin and
his family, with a particular focus on messages that would resonate
with young drivers such as “I knew it could never happen to me…. but I
was wrong.” From TPD’s level, the documentary highlights the city’s
SPEED program designed to teach teenagers and their parents about
driving dangers and responsibilities. WCOT went along to DUI
checkpoints to detail TPD procedures and their zero-tolerance approach
to drinking and driving.
The result was a powerful documentary
that starts with the black and white starkness of a prison guard tower
surrounded by razor wire, with Eric inside saying, “Yeah, sure, people
get killed, but I’m very careful. I’m not going to be the one that
hurts anybody, much less kills anybody. It won’t happen to me.” A short
time later he says, “My name is Eric Smallridge, or I guess I should
say it was. I’m now inmate P22679. On May 11, 2002, I made the worst
mistake of my life. I chose to drink and drive.” The video tells the
stories of the lives of these two young men from every perspective --
from their own feelings, to their parents’ reaction, to the impact on
the families of the victims. The segments on the TPD training drive
home the fact that young drivers’ confidence often exceeds their
abilities. DUI checkpoint footage allows viewers to see first hand that
dangerous drivers are on our roadways.
While local media typically
don’t report on city TV shows, upon its first airing, a local newspaper
columnist wrote a major story on the Editorial page advising, “Every
fraternity and sorority needs to get a copy and have a mandatory
showing once a month.” The newspaper coverage attracted attention from
parents and school systems across the state that wanted to share it
with area teens. The City developed an on-line form so residents could
buy the video, with over 70 copies of the video purchased within four
months. Free copies were given to the local school system where the
video is now shown to every driver’s education class. Local driving
schools received copies and Florida State University bought 100 copies
to hand out to parents at their Homecoming Weekend events. The show
aired regularly on the city’s channel WCOT, watched by more than 39% of
Tallahassee’s residents (2004 & 2006 Citizen Surveys). It was
promoted with a full-page article in the employee newsletter and on the
city’s website. The state of Florida has requested a copy and is
considering use in all court-mandated DUI classes throughout the state.
To address Tallahassee’s ongoing goal of being a leader among local
governments, the plan focused on how to extend the reach beyond the
region and state. With a goal of reaching young people, the city
produced a shorter 9 ½ minute version of the video that was placed on
YouTube in early February 2007. E-mails explaining the show and
providing the YouTube link were sent to city supervisors, individuals
and families involved in the video, public safety networks, government
groups, nationwide communication networks, and “friends’ lists.” The
response was phenomenal with heartfelt thank-yous from individuals and
parents across the country, requests to use in training in other
states, and requests from governments nationwide to air the show on
their access channels.
Evaluation: 1) Very conservatively, over 55,000
individuals are estimated to have seen the short or long version of the
show to date (WCOT 20,000; other communities 30,000; schools, driving
classes & rec centers 5,000, etc.) 2) Four months after being
posted on YouTube, over 8,000 individuals have viewed the show – vastly
eclipsing our goal of 500 and it keeps growing. 3) TPD was prominently
promoted as innovative leaders in the video now being shown across the
country on YouTube and on government TV channels, and traffic officers
interacted with students at 6 City Rec Center presentations where the
video was shown. 4) Eleven media impressions were achieved: 2 stories
in the local paper, 1 TV story promoting the innovative use of YouTube
by the City, 1 nationwide print publication, 2 radio interviews and at
least 5 TV community stations airing the hour-long program.
Budget: The city spent $845 on the video ($99 for
prison footage, $646 for dubs/ shipping, & $190 producer travel).
Video sales have recouped $825 to date for a $20 net cost. All project
time was from staff & volunteers.