It Happens Fast (Ontario distracted driving)

“It happens fast”

Ontario Ministry of Transportation campaign (June-October 2016, $3 million) showing a young driver who glances at his phone, runs a red light, is hit by a truck and wakes up paralysed in a long-term care room. Focus groups had found young people feared paralysis more than death.

Years: 2016
Country: Canada
Budget: $3 million (CASSIES write-up)
Topic: Traffic safety
Asks people to: Stop
Strategy: Fear appeal
Channel: Cinema Radio Social (paid)TV
Audience: Young adults Youth

Evidence

Self-reportedUnknown

CASSIES Bronze 2018 case: post-campaign survey showed an 8% lift in those who think distracted driving is a concern and a 7% increase in those not using a phone while driving (self-reported, no comparison group described); 74% recall, said to be the highest for an Ontario government campaign; searches for 'phone while driving' up 2,900%.

Sponsor (who paid)

Ontario Ministry of Transportation Foreign government, funder

Credits (who made it)

John St. Creative, 2016 source

Related campaigns

Distracted Driving Prevention (Stop the Texts, Stop the Wrecks) 2011–now

Sources

Strategy: CASSIES Bronze: Ontario changes the distracted driving narrative (March 2018) news · 2018

Research notes

Credit and results fetched from the CASSIES write-up 2026-10-22. Whether the 7% is percentage points or relative is not stated; check the original CASSIES paper. Ontario raised distracted-driving fines around this period (policy pairing not confirmed).

Record cases/ontario-it-happens-fast.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign