Stations Set To Roll Out Project Roadblock PSAs

To help make roads safer during this time of year, the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB) today announced the 17th annual Project Roadblock initiative, in which local TV stations donate advertising time and space to support NHTSA and the Ad Council’s “Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving” PSA campaign.

Many Americans are expected to travel during the holidays despite the COVID-19 pandemic and must be sure to stay safe on the roads after seeing family or friends, since drinking and driving remains a serious public safety issue. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 210 lives were lost in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes from the Christmas to New Year’s Day holiday period in 2019.

To help the campaign’s message reach those who could benefit most, Project Roadblock is conducting a special push to TV stations in the states that accounted for over two-thirds of all alcohol-impaired driving fatalities in the 2018 holiday season: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

For 17 years, TV stations have participated in Project Roadblock by airing Buzzed Driving Prevention PSAs during the six-day period between Dec. 26 and 31, with a special push at 10 p.m. local time on New Year’s Eve. At Project Roadblock’s inception in 2004, December was one of the deadliest drunk driving months of the year.

“Buzzed driving is dangerous and puts you and everyone else on the road at risk, and efforts like those under Project Roadblock remind everyone to celebrate safely and responsibly this holiday season,” NHTSA Deputy Administrator James Owens said.

2019’s Project Roadblock saw more than 65,000 placements of donated on-air, digital subchannel, online and mobile time and space by over 1,000 TV stations reaching all 50 states, resulting in nearly $8 million in donated media over the six-day period. Since Project Roadblock’s inaugural year in 2004, broadcast TV stations across the nation have donated over $81 million in media to support this effort. To date, more than 900 stations in all 210 markets have already pledged their support for Project Roadblock 2020.

“Every day local broadcast TV stations provide their communities with the most trusted news and information, which has been especially critical in 2020,” said Steve Lanzano, president-CEO of TVB. “For the 17th year, TV stations will continue to demonstrate their ongoing commitment to the safety of their communities by participating in this lifesaving anti-buzzed driving campaign.”

The PSAs end with the tagline “Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving,” reminding drivers to find safe ways to get home instead of getting behind the wheel. All PSA distribution and delivery will be donated by Extreme Reach.

“No matter your holiday plans, make sure you make a strategy ahead of time to get home safe,” said Michelle Hillman, Ad Council chief campaign development officer. “Local broadcast stations have done an incredible job of spreading that message, and we look forward to another successful year of Project Roadblock.”