We’ve all said it: I’m not on my phone, I’m just checking who messaged me. Or, I’m not browsing, just glancing down.

But an accident can happen in those two seconds, and that’s the behaviour the Government of Ontario and John St. are trying to change.

With a new TV, pre-roll and cinema push targeting 17- to 21-year-olds, the latest campaign packs a wallop: a teen driving a car glances down for a second before he’s hit. The crash cuts immediately to him, paralyzed and in a wheelchair.

“We found many kids consider themselves immortal,” says Angus Tucker, partner and co-CD at John St. “But when pushed, the idea of being bound to a wheelchair was almost more horrific than dying.”

The campaign doesn’t focus on the blood, guts or effect on the family that distracted driving can cause, he says. And that was very purposeful. Instead, it focuses on the idea that these accidents happen not in minutes, but in seconds.

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