TOW #11

One of the main causes of death in the USA is from car accidents. There have been many attempts to try to diminish the number of these accidents, but none of these attempts have been quite like the one of  The Elm Grove Police. This police force used powerful captions and personalizing it to the driver on their new speed limit signs in order to convince drivers to drive within the speed limit. The sign contains a few powerful captions that really effect the purpose of the sign. Underneath where it says the speed limit, the sign has the slogan, "slower is better." This creates a soft tone of the poster, compared to usual slogans seen on campaigns that yell at their audience. It is stated as a fact to prevent defensive reactions from their audience. The more prominent caption on the sign, however, reads "days in hospital bed," replacing the usual "miles per hour" caption of drivers speed. This is an alerting sign to drivers. No one wants to end up in a hospital bed. The sign is saying if you continue driving at the speed you are, then you will end up hospitalized. This appeals to pathos, evoking fear and guilt within the audience. Drivers are most likely to slow down if they feel like they are going to harm themselves or others. Usually, drivers don't think of the consequences of their driving, but this sign forces them too. This goes hand in hand with personalizing the sign to the driver. The sign uses an automatic speed detector that tells drivers how fast they are driving. By doing so, drivers can see that it is their own speed next to the caption "days in hospital bed." This appeals to pathos as well, because they realize if it is their speed limit, then it will be their fault if someone ends up hospitalized. I think this speed limit sign is very powerful and really makes drivers think. It is a scary thought to think about a car accident, but this poster is allowing drivers to know to slow down if they are above the speed limit. However, I think this sign could also create more damage, because it seems very distracting to drivers. First they have to read all of the words, and next they are afraid of being in a hospital, and scared drivers are at a higher risk for crashing. However, the Elm Grove police did a great job at convincing drivers to slow down through their use of powerful captions and personalizing.