September 19, 2013
EIE and AT&T: Texting and Driving...It Can Wait
Enough Is Enough® and AT&T: Texting and Driving...It Can Wait
Texting and Driving
Drive 4 Pledges Day - September 19
Remember when it was ok to drive without a seatbelt? Drink and drive? Litter on our roads and highway, hold your young child in your lap instead of using a car seat? What happened to reverse these dangerous trends? A movement happened.
A movement is accomplished through the voices and actions of many people. The goal of the It Can Wait movement is to create a much needed paradigm shift, or "Tipping Point" in social attitudes regarding the issues of texting and emailing while driving. I truly believe that the It Can Wait effort will create this critical shift causing a social stigma to be attached to the dangerous habit of texting while driving.
Four national wireless service providers, including our friends and partners at Sprint, ATT and Verizon are spearheading the It Can Wait campaign. We join them in urging you to take the pledge to never text and drive. Drive 4 Pledges Day, September 19.
Do you want to be part of this culture change? If so, here's what you can do; go to Internet Safety 101®-It Can Wait.
- Pledge to never text and drive while encouraging others in your community to do the same.
- Get involved in Drive 4 Pledges Day by signing up at ItCanWait.com to get resources to share your commitment on social media and personalize the movement on the streets of your communities.
- Pass this email to your family and friends.
- Check out Sprint's Focus on Driving Tips
Facts:
- Traffic crashes are the leading killer of teens.
- Teens overwhelming use of cell phones coupled with their driving inexperience makes for a deadly combination.
- 97 percent of teens know texting while driving is dangerous, 43 percent of them admit to sending a text while driving - and 75 percent say the practice is common among their friends. (AT&T survey)
- Drivers under the age of 20 have the highest proportion of distraction-related fatal crashes. --Approximately 1.3 million crashes involve cell phone use each year and texting while driving is involved in more than 100,000 vehicle crashes every year (National Safety Council).
- 3,331 people were killed in vehicle crashes in 2011 involving a distracted driver, up from 3,267 fatalities in 2010. That same year, an additional 387,000 people were injured in crashes involving a distracted driver. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)