Exposing Gen Z’s Deadly Distracted Driving Habit in Powerful PSA

86% of drivers aged 16–24 admit to using social media behind the wheel - a statistic that speaks volumes about one of the deadliest habits facing gen z drivers. That’s according to a new study by Project Yellow Light, a non-profit focused on ending distracted driving.

In time for National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, the non-profit commissioned a survey from Suzy Market Research that revealed just how common this dangerous behaviour is with American youths, with nearly half of surveyed 16-24 year olds routinely checking social media while driving.

To communicate these findings, the charity partnered with The Martin Agency and director Quentin Deronzier of Le Pac, the US home of select directors from Paris-based production company La Pac, in partnership with Arts & Sciences, to launch a powerful PSA titled ‘Love Story’. The short film follows two teenagers enjoying a drive and excitedly trying to get a crush’s attention online – until their mobile phone usage leads to disaster.

“This powerful film will bring much needed awareness to our fight to combat distracted driving, one of the leading causes of death among US teens and young adults,” says Julie Garner, who founded Project Yellow Light after losing her son, Hunter, to a distracted driving crash at 16. “Our youngest drivers have an unrealistic sense of invincibility behind the wheel; this work will help them realise the danger and consequences of distracted behaviour.

“There’s been an uptick in the type of distractions of late,” she adds. “It’s gone from scrolling and texting to now actually creating content while on the road. Love Story’s focus hits the mark with this latest deadly trend.”

The idea for the PSA came from a 2024 USA Today article about a deadly collision involving a truck driver using TikTok. The Martin Agency’s ACD team, Julian Cohen and Rushil Nadkarni, tell LBB they immediately wanted to shift the conversation toward content creation behind the wheel.

“We really believe in the power of proactive work and how we can use that thinking to change the world,” says Julian. “Even though texting and driving has been something we’ve been talking about for the last 15-20 years, we realised that there hasn’t been much work around the dangers of not only consuming content while driving but also creating content while driving.”

This thought process led to the line, ‘Don’t let this be the end of your story’, a double entendre that allowed them to gently address the dark subject of death while also pointing to the social platforms.

Remembering their own experiences as youths, the creatives distilled the idea that a teenager’s biggest problem is often their battle with popularity – being liked by others and getting their attention. This has only intensified as smartphones have generated “all-encompassing hubs of social media”, explains Rushil. “For many, the device is not a separate part of life that can be turned off. It is where they live. So the creative challenge was to capture that complexity among adolescents.

Being a pro-bono project, all involved had to wear many different hats and make the limited budget stretch. But Julian says they assembled a team of “incredible partners” who were purely motivated by making an impact with the piece. This allowed them to overcome one of the toughest challenges imaginable when, after location scouting and casting in January, the LA fires forced evacuations and delayed shooting.

After pivoting the launch from Valentine’s Day to align with the start of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month (April), Rushil says, “We wouldn’t be here talking about this piece if it weren’t for Anna Roudaut (EP) and director Quentin Deronzier. Le Pac showed a lot of courage and resilience to revisit the shoot. And when we kicked back up, it was about prioritising all of our safety.”

Working closely with Quentin throughout, the creatives wrote the film to be three-and-a-half uninterrupted minutes within the protagonist’s life, allowing the viewer to see and feel how quickly an accident can happen on the road.

Quentin helped cast the two boys and says that their chemistry was key to the film’s success. “I encouraged improv to keep their interactions natural, making sure their body language, phone habits and conversations felt like something you’d actually see from two best friends.”

He continues, “The funny thing was that on set, they were constantly on their phones, storying, posting, texting… completely immersed in both the real world and their online world at the same time. It was a confirmation that this is just how teens exist today, and I leaned into that to make their interactions feel as natural as possible.”

“The characters are a reflection of modern adolescence and the feeling of first love,” adds Rushil. “The misleading ways of communicating via social media, the excitement and freedom of driving around. It’s this sense of newfound freedom, but without understanding the consequences.”

Even the music choice played an important role in capturing this authenticity; the creatives worked with Columbia Records to find a relevant track that today’s youth would be playing in the car.

Employing a visual style that felt more like a short film than a PSA, Quentin shares that he used tight framing to emphasise the confined space in the car and build tension. “It was also a way for the audience to fully immerse themselves in the dialogue between the two characters and what they were going through.” This was vital in keeping the audience unaware of the upcoming surprise. “We kept the camera work natural and unassuming,” he says, “avoiding too obvious visual tricks so the accident would feel as sudden and shocking to the audience as it would in real life.”

At the heart of this immersion are the elements that make the story and characters relatable – something that, according to Rushil, gen z pays particular attention to. “So we wanted to explore the truth around how these situations are many times more complicated,” he says. “In this instance, the distracted driving didn’t come from the driver but he can’t escape the pull of it from his friend. It’s time we’re also aware of what we’re being pulled into.”

While distracted driving isn’t a new phenomenon by any means, seeing the new stats from Project Yellow Light and Suzy Market Research ‘blew Quentin’s mind’, and gave this project an urgency for the director. “I wanted the PSA to hit emotionally, not just inform,” he reflects. “To make young drivers really feel the weight of a small, careless moment.

“That distraction isn’t always obvious, it doesn’t feel reckless in the moment. It’s just excitement, curiosity, the urge to stay connected. But that pull toward validation online can quietly take over, blurring the line between being present and being consumed. The real danger is how natural it feels, and that’s what makes this message so important.”