New PSA delivers haunting message about speeding

We've all been told to slow down when driving. But never quite like this.

A new public service announcement from the New Zealand Transport Agency uses the power of special effects and simple conversation to explore whether crashes are preventable.

In the spot, curently garnering a slew of hits on YouTube, one driver speeds down a lonely road. Another driver, not seeing the first, pulls out of an intersection and into the speeding car's path.

Then, time slows to a near stop.

The two men get out of their cars and have a conversation. One driver, with his small son in the back seat, says he didn't see the other man's car. That man concedes he was going too fast. But there's nothing to be done about it now. Understanding the die has been cast, the two men return to their cars and brace for what they now know is inevitable but could have been prevented.

The ad ends with a line of text reading, "Other people make mistakes. Slow down."

The New Zealand Transport Agency described the campaign on its website. "A person may be a good driver but they can't deny that people do make mistakes – after all, to err is only human. And in life, mistakes are made often. We usually get to learn from our mistakes; but not when driving – the road is an exception. Even the smallest of mistakes on the road can cost us our life, or someone else's."

On Twitter, reaction to the powerful, grim ad was overwhelmingly positive.

Follow Mike Krumboltz on Twitter (@mikekrumboltz).