Italian transport ministry admits ‘possible mistakes’: report (representative)
Rome:
An Italian public service message urging young drivers to put down their smartphones drew widespread attention on Wednesday because the actor was not wearing a seat belt.
The video, produced for Italy’s transport ministry, shows four young women traveling in a car, with the front seat passenger sharing a video on his phone.
The announcer offers the driver a choice: watch now or watch later when she is no longer behind the wheel.
“Make the only choice because it concerns your life and the lives of others,” Matteo Salvini, the deputy prime minister in charge of transport, wrote in a post on X launching the social media campaign.
When the driver chooses to watch the video, the car is involved in an accident, and when she chooses to watch it later, the accident is avoided.
But viewers soon noticed a problem.
Center-left Democratic lawmaker Giulia Pastorella noted on X (formerly Twitter): “Matteo Salvini, young women forget to wear seat belts.”
When asked by AFP, Italy’s transport ministry admitted there was a “possible error” in a social networking campaign aimed at drawing attention to the three main causes of accidents among young drivers: the use of smartphones, speeding and the use of drugs and /or alcohol.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
