Vancouver, British Columbia — March 1, 2016 — More than 670 Canadian auto dealers are banding together to ask their customers to help end distracted driving. In total, distracted driving is responsible for 4 million vehicle collisions a year in North America. Canada’s auto dealers have come together to help fight the phenomenon with the 2016 Auto Dealers Against Distracted Driving Campaign.
Throughout the month of March, customers who visit participating dealerships will be asked to make a personal pledge against distracted driving and make a formal commitment to improve road safety by not driving distracted. Pledges from customers and dealership employees can also be submitted online at distractionfree.ca.
“This is our second year participating in the campaign and we’re hoping to build off of the great response we saw from our customers last year; our Applewood Kia location in Surrey, BC, was among the top dealers in the country with 618 individual pledges collected over the course of campaign month,” says Linda Thomas of Applewood Auto Group. “It’s important we engage directly with our customers because we believe that the act of physically signing your name will encourage a real behavioural change. We hope our campaign will encourage them to think twice before reaching for their phone while behind the wheel.”
LGM Financial Services instigated the campaign as a platform for Canadian dealers to influence consumers directly through their automotive retail point-of-sale. The campaign aims to educate drivers on solutions to resist the urge to drive distracted, such as pairing to blue tooth and securing potential distractions before starting a trip.
“A total of 433 dealerships registered for our inaugural campaign last year and today, we are already sitting at 670 dealers, which is approximately a 50 percent increase, and there’s potential for that number to grow since dealers can register right up until the end of March,” says Marc-Andre Lefebvre, VP of Sales for the Quebec region at LGM. “Measuring registered dealers is only one form of engagement; we are also aiming to surpass last year’s campaign pledge count of 3,000 and I’m confident we will do that.”
This campaign is supported by Sovereign General Insurance Company and The Co-operators.
For more information, please visit distractionfree.ca. You can watch the campaign video in the player below.
