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Lake Havasu MPO launches countywide distracted-driving education campaign
Summary
Lake Havasu Metropolitan Planning Organization announced a 12-month, countywide public education campaign using locally recognizable faces and video spots to reduce distracted driving; MPO manager asked the council and city departments to partner in distribution.
The Lake Havasu Metropolitan Planning Organization announced a 12-month public education campaign to reduce distracted driving and asked city leaders to help distribute short video spots that feature local faces and familiar places.
Vinny Gallegos, Lake Havasu MPO Manager, told the Lake Havasu City Council on July 9 that the MPO executive board chose distracted driving as the campaign focus and wants to use local imagery to make the message more resonant. "What we were hoping to do though in this campaign is to put some faces that were familiar to our people and some environment in the background that's familiar to our people," Gallegos said.
The campaign includes two short video commercials produced for countywide use. Gallegos said the MPO negotiated participation by partner agencies and jurisdictions so the campaign can run across Mohave County and invited the city, police and fire departments, Arizona State University at Lake Havasu and other partners to pass the message along.
Gallegos described the outreach as public education rather than an engineering project: "These campaigns in some ways are, are not unique either to, the state or throughout the country. What we were hoping to do though in this campaign is to put some faces that were familiar to our people… and we just hope that that'll be a reminder to the public again that there are distractions and to drive safe and to focus." He asked council members and staff to "please remind yourselves to remind others" when they see the videos.
The produced spots show local officials and residents. Council members Donna McCoy and Jim Dolan appear in one spot; Mayor Cal Sheehy and Police Chief Davis appear in the other, and the MPO said an ASU Havasu student who participated could not attend the meeting. The MPO said the campaign targets a range of distractions — not only phones but also tasks such as eating or adjusting controls — and that outreach materials will be emailed to partner agencies for distribution.
No formal council action or funding appropriation was requested at the meeting; Gallegos said the MPO executive board has already approved the campaign and the MPO will coordinate distribution. The MPO asked for the city’s partnership on outreach and for departmental cooperation in sharing the videos with the public.
Background: Lake Havasu City is one of several jurisdictions participating. Gallegos said the MPO covers the immediate Havasu region but gained board support to extend the campaign countywide, partnering with Kingman, Bullhead City and unincorporated Mohave County. The council did not take a formal vote on the city’s role during the meeting.
Looking ahead: Gallegos said the MPO will circulate the videos and campaign materials by mass email to partner agencies and asked council and staff to help amplify the messages over the next 12 months.
