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Ji Yoon Park
Unit #2 - Rhetorical Essay
October 7, 2014
CAS 137H
Slow Down and Save Lives
Everydaywhether it may be an accident or notpeople kill innocent, young
childrens lives through a car or a motor vehicle fatality. According to NHTSA (National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration), in 2012, in the United States, 3 children14 and
youngerfaced death and 462 were injured everyday (Traffic Safety Facts 2012 Data, pg. 1).
In 2003, even worse, 6 children were killed and 694 were injured daily; moreover, 21 percent
of the younger children faced death by a motor vehicle (Traffic Safety Facts 2003 Data, pg.
1). Now these numbers only include the deaths and injuries that children faced. How big,
then, would the number be if it includes teenagers and adults? NHTSA informs that the
highest number of traffic fatality happened in 1972, resulting a number of 54,589 deaths,
including all ages (Traffic Safety Facts 2012 Data, pg. 1). On average, 5,400,000 car crashes
happen annually (Traffic Safety Facts 2012 Data, pg. 1). To prevent such disasters, a French
campaign created a print advertisementeffectively using pathos, logos and ethosasserting
slow driving.
In this advertisement, the first part that grabs the viewers attention is the little girl.
On the upper-right part of her head, there is a grave dent that epitomize the result of a car if it
faced an accident. Realize how no bones nor blood is seen. It is informing the drivers that
accidents do not only deface other cars, but also harm humans. The girls thin, silk-like hair,
and her slightly gleaming eyes represent unawareness. Even with the dent on her head, there
are no tears dropping but only a sustained stare in the air. The little girl is wearing an overall

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pastel toned clothes: a white dungaree and a pink t-shirt inside. The color choice in this
advertisement make people depict purity and innocence. It has a strong appeal to pathos
because it is desolating to see a little girl injured. By looking at her with a big dent, people
feel sympathetic and repentant. The emotions felt looking at the little girl harmed would not
be as despairing as if it were a teenage girl with makeup on. The purpose of this
advertisement is to make drivers avoid acceleration.
Due to accelerated driving there have been involuntary injuries and deaths.
Involuntary death is considered a crime and a murder in certain cases. Reckless driving is a
type of crime that the United Statess law is earnest about. In some states, the speed is settled;
if one drives 20 mph (miles per hour) above the specified speed or above 80 mph, the
consequence of a car accident is a fine of $2500 (Fazzalaro, J. J, 2008, February 28). There
are Hit-and-Run cases where a criminal kills someone as a result of a car accident and just
run away. In these occasions, the consequence is imprisonment (When an Auto Accident
Becomes a Criminal Offense, n.d.). In addition, drunk driving is another serious problem that
affect the rate of vehicle fatalities. Drunk driving casualties happen every hour on average (11
Facts About Driving Under the Influence, n.d.). The punishment for it is even more severe
compared to other accidents. The years of imprisonment varies among each state: Wisconsin
requires at most 40 years, Alaska requires at most 99 years, and North Dakota requires it for
life (Penalties for Drunk Driving Vehicular Homicide, n.d.). These kinds of advertisements
are to lessen deaths and crimes.
Resuming to the advertisement, focusing on the setting and the style together, the
background color of this advertisement is simply one-colored and once again, pink, which
represents innocence. The purpose of it is so that the little girl solely gets the attention. The
next part that grabs the attention are the words written on the lower-left corner. It says In

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town, car accidents dont just happen to cars. Slow down. The words are all capitalized.
When words are capitalized, its purpose is to emphasize and underscore a specific notion.
This statement is an appeal to logos. It is certainly true that accidents can happen anywhere,
anytime and the speed in which one drives will bring great change to another persons life.
Drivers must be attentive when driving.
Moreover, just above the words is a small logo of a campaign called Scurit
Routire. Scurit Routire is a French campaign that promote the importance of safe driving
(Scurit Routire | Tous responsables, n.d.). This is an appeal to ethos because it manifests
how the security in France is well-organized and how people are devoted to bring change in
diminishing misfortunes. Scurit Routire is one of the most known campaigns throughout
Europe. It was first founded on August 14, 1893. Since then, it has had great influence on
schools, car companies and mostly, peoples lives. Two most significant innovation that the
campaign brought were the followings: creating a driving school in 1917 and creating a
method of traffic control in 1949 (Scurit Routire | Tous responsables, n.d.). Such
upheavals altered the way people drove and the number of deaths each year started
decreasing. Not only does it advertise and pursue slow drivingwhich is shown on this ad
but also the use of seat belts, the use of turn signals used when changing directions, and being
attentive in places where there are signs like school zone or pedestrian crossing (Scurit
Routire | Tous responsables, n.d.). There are other advertisements that were set out in the
media from this campaign concerning the topics above.
In conclusion, the intended message of this advertisement created by the French
campaign, Scurit Routire, is to control the driving speed. As National Highway Traffic
Safety Administrations data informs, the number of crashes, injuries and deaths is immense.
The role of the advertisement is to decrease the number of injuries and casualties. The

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advertisement effectively uses all three modes of persuasion: pathos, logos and ethos. Out of
those three, pathos plays the strongest role. The use of the little girl as the character has the
greatest impact. The little girl itself symbolizes innocence and purity. It instantly makes the
driver who hurt the girl a guilty person since the girl did not do anything to get a dent in
return nor did she know that she was going to get hurt. Also, the color choice of the clothes
and the background represent innocence and purity. Lastly, the logo of the campaign gives
people certitude that its suggestions of driving slowly is a right behavior to take. Just by
diminishing the speed a little and looking around before accelerating may save several lives.
Joe Spoto once said: One second can change your whole life. Car accidents are never
predicted so take a step back and control yourself.

!
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References

11 Facts About Driving Under the Influence. (n.d.). DoSomething.org. Retrieved October 11,
2014, from https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-driving-underinfluence
Fazzalaro, J. J. (2008, February 28). SPEEDING FINE COMPARISON FOR
CONNECTICUT, NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, AND VIRGINIA. cga.ct.gov.
Retrieved October 12, 2014, from http://www.cga.ct.gov/2008/rpt/2008-r-0027.htm
Legal Consequences of Drinking and Driving. (n.d.). Lawyers.com. Retrieved October 9,
2014, from http://criminal.lawyers.com/dui-dwi/legal-consequences-of-drinking-anddriving.html
Penalties for Drunk Driving Vehicular Homicide. (n.d.). madd.org. Retrieved October 12,
2014, from http://www.madd.org/laws/law-overview/
Vehicular_Homicide_Overview.pdf
Scurit Routire | Tous responsables. (n.d.). Scurit Routire | Tous responsables. Retrieved
October 12, 2014, from http://www.securite-routiere.gouv.fr
Traffic Safety Facts 2003 Data. (n.d.). nhtsa.gov. Retrieved October 12, 2014, from http://
www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/809762.pdf
Traffic Safety Facts 2012 Data. (n.d.). nhtsa.gov. Retrieved October 12, 2014, from http://
www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pubs/812011.pdf
When an Auto Accident Becomes a Criminal Offense. (n.d.). When An Auto Accident
Becomes A Criminal Offense. Retrieved October 12, 2014, from http://
www.lawyerlocator.com/auto-accidents/criminal-offense-auto-accident/