Text And Drive Safety Ad Is A Smash Hit

The star of a Welsh safety video showing the dangers of texting while driving has told of being "overwhelmed" by its international popularity.
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Jenny Davies plays a 17-year-old girl called Cassie Cowan, who causes a horrific three-car smash while sending a message on her phone.
Shot for just £10,000 by South Wales' Gwent Police, the video was never meant to be an international success.
But once it made its way onto YouTube viewers were blown away by the shockingly brutal and realistic portayal of a crash.
It was soon picked up by the American media and given widespread coverage.
Fox News showed clips of it in a news piece about a proposed Bill to ban texting and driving, while CBS flew a camera crew to Tredegar in south Wales to interview the actors.
Miss Davies thought the film was just going to be shown in schools.
The 18-year-old said: "It has had a massive global reaction.
"It has been quite overwhelming, knowing that all the national television stations in America have taken it on board and there is lots of news coverage over there as well.
"Myself and two of the other girls that play my friends in the film got interviewed by CBS last Tuesday which was really surreal."
She was set to go to Bristol University to study for a drama degree but instead is taking a gap year to gain more acting experience following the success of the video.
The graphic content of the film which has so caught the eye of American teenagers was crucial, Miss Davies said.
"It is really important that it is as realistic as possible as [otherwise] people are not going to believe it and it is not going to affect people," she explained.
"Even though people say it is shocking and gory, it is important it is like that. For people my age, that is what I think affects us."
A 30-minute version of the film is due to be shown for the first time in the UK this autumn.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090905/tuk-text-and-drive-safety-ad-is-a-smash-45dbed5.html