Cape Town - Don't text and drive.
This warning has been repeated over and over again yet there are still way to many casualties as a result of people paying attention to their cellphones instead of their surroundings.
A new campaign advertisement provided a new take on the warning - and went viral worldwide as a result.
The 40-second video was released by the Western Cape government as part of the #ItCanWait campaign.
"We hope that the campaign will speak directly to motorists, urging them not to use their phones while driving. Research has shown that distracted driving can be as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol or intoxicating substances, with its disastrous effects being seen on our roads daily," said Minister of Transport and Public Works Donald Grant in a statement.
Watch the video below:
It starts out as one of those epic fail videos. Those ones that show people tripping and walking into doors with circus music.
The outtakes are hilarious and care-free.
The music stops and the ad suddenly becomes deadly serious. We see a woman driving, not looking up from her phone. Her vehicle is hit and the ad does not hold back.
In one week, the video has received over 800 000 views locally and received millions of views worldwide.
Created by FCB Cape Town’s Executive Creative Officer Mike Barnwell, Art Director Dylan Davies and Copywriter Alistair Morgan with additional footage from Jason Fielkov of Egg Films, the video has received a staggering number of views since being uploaded on July 14.
The upload to the Mail Online site has been viewed 23 000 000 times. On Gorilla Creation’s Facebook page it’s been viewed 1 500 000 times. On a Chinese Facebook site (Teng Tsen Khoo) it’s been viewed 1 500 000 times. On the FCB Cape Town YouTube site it’s been viewed 385 000 times and on the WCG site it’s been viewed 415 000 times.
A Western Cape Government spokesman said: "As the National Safety Council points out, brain activity in the areas that process moving images decreases by over 33% when we are working our phones.
"This means that we effectively become partially blind when we use our cell-phone while driving, which leads to collisions, which can result in deaths and serious injuries. There is no call, and certainly no text message, so important that it is worth a human life: it can wait.”