What I currently have:

Image before retouching:

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bigger font

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It will be a lot bigger once it's printed. It's going to be about the size of those posters you see in college hallways.

"60 Percent of all teen car accident related deaths are alcohol related. "

You want to make it flow better.

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The world is only as sweet as you make it and only as terrible as you see it

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I think that the blurred background needs to be retouched because, especially if it's big, it irritates the eyes and is kind of distracting.  
(I notice these things because my Dad is a Graphic Designer)

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I blured the background because I want the focus to be on the car rather than the surrounding areas. I could make it a little less blury. It's something I learned in Photography.  

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Quote: from carracer at 9:10 pm on Nov. 9, 2009

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I think that the blurred background needs to be retouched because, especially if it's big, it irritates the eyes and is kind of distracting.
 (I notice these things because my Dad is a Graphic Designer)

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I blured the background because I want the focus to be on the car rather than the surrounding areas. I could make it a little less blury. It's something I learned in Photography.

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I understand the intent, I just think that it was overdone a touch.
It looks choppy. (Only in my opinion of course)

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The world is only as sweet as you make it and only as terrible as you see it

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Quote: from imakethetest66 at 6:14 pm on Nov. 9, 2009

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Quote: from carracer at 9:10 pm on Nov. 9, 2009

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I think that the blurred background needs to be retouched because, especially if it's big, it irritates the eyes and is kind of distracting.    
  (I notice these things because my Dad is a Graphic Designer)

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 I blured the background because I want the focus to be on the car rather than the surrounding areas. I could make it a little less blury. It's something I learned in Photography.  

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I understand the intent, I just think that it was overdone a touch.
It looks choppy. (Only in my opinion of course)

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It's not polished. It's not the final result. I'm just messing around with it for now until I find something I like or at least get a better idea of what I want. View it as a sketch rather than the finished product.

This is a problem because you are trying to synthesize the image with the text. You need to do something more with the text, you need to play with it's hierarchy. Don't just shove it up in the top like that. I can tell you didn't want it to overlap the car, but I think you could get away with the text going over some of it, we'd still know it's a beat-up care and overlapping the text will also help give it more visual dominance.