The Highway Patrol is using public service announcements before the Missouri Tiger home football games reminding everyone to be a safe driver. The 15 second PSA will be broadcast over the stadium’s public address system just before the team takes the field.
Patrol Spokesman John Hotz says it’s a way to remind motorists that the rules of the road are the same no matter where they are. “It’s important to wear your seatbelt and make sure everybody else is properly restrained. It’s important to obey the speed limit, to pay attention when you’re driving, and to drive sober. And we know that all across the country, those are some of the top reasons that we have traffic crashes,” he says.
Hotz says the message relayed in the public service announcement is in an effort to take the same message they’ve been using about motorist safety and send it out in a different manner. He thinks the PSA will be more effective than using a billboard, for instance. He says, “When Missouri announced they were moving to the Southeastern Conference in football, we put together the idea that we would get together with some of the other state patrol or state police organizations that also had SEC teams in them and we decided to put together a public service announcement.”
For more information, visit the Patrol’s home page at www.mshp.dps.mo.gov.
AUDIO: Mary Farucci reports. (1:07)