State Launches No Texting While Driving Program at WMHS Monday

So you think you can drive and text safely? Especially if you’re a newly-minted young driver?

The Middlesex District Attorney’s office and AT&T say you can’t.

“You cannot text and drive safely,” Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone told an auditorium of students Monday morning.

Together, the DA’s office and AT&T launched the “It Can Wait” program in Massachusetts Monday at WMHS. They showed a video produced by AT&T that emphasizes that trying to drive and text can be fatal.

As part of the program, the project sponsors asked students to sign a pledge to not text while they’re driving.

“Distracted driving is extremely dangerous to anyone, especially youths who are inexperienced drivers to begin with, and our hope is that this presentation causes teens to think twice before choosing not to text and drive,” according to Leone in a press release announcing the effort.

“Car crashes are the number one cause of death for young people ages 15-24,” Leone continued.

Leone asked the audience to remember the last text message they sent. The sense in the auditorium was that they didn’t remember it.

Is it worth risking your life, or your friend’s life? Leone asked. Text messaging while driving results in 200,000 accidents a year, according to Leone. Car crashes are the number one killer of teenagers, he said later. He likened texting and driving to drinking and driving—with a blood alcohol rate of .08 percent.

AT&T launched the campaign in March of this year. More than 21,600 people have taken the pledge, the release states, not to drive and text.

AT&T paired with Leone’s office because the office does a lot of intervention and prevention programs, according to both Leone and AT&T consultant Chris Doherty. Leone chairs the Middlesex Partnership for Youth, Inc., a non-profit 501 c 3 organization that provides prevention and intervention resources and training to Middlesex school districts and communities.

WMHS students Hunter Romano and Lindsay Nixon were first to sign the no driving and texting pledge on the auditorium stage.

Students seemed receptive to the message.

When you’re driving, “You have to pay attention to everything,” sophomore Amanda Ruderman, who just got her learner’s permit, said before the program began. And you have to watch that no one else is distracted, either, Ruderman said. She said she does not text while she’s driving.

Christina Lafferty, who is finishing junior year, and has no driver’s permit yet, said that “It’s not reasonable” to drive and text because “it takes your eyes off the road.”

Two sophomores say it’s OK for a driver to text at a stop sign or red light. Jacob Fialkosky said driving and texting is “dangerous to a point” in that it distracts people when they’re driving. It’s not a problem, he said, at a stop sign. Or at a red light, added Tim Connor. Fialkosky said he got his learner’s permit on Jan. 14; Connor, his license on Jan. 11.

At the assembly, students also voted on which of five student-made public service announcements on cyber safety should run on Fox TV. The vote by students across Middlesex County should be tallied by the end of the week, according to Margie Daniels, executive director of the Middlesex Partnerships for Youth, Inc. The spot should run on June 23, she said.

In the cafeteria after the assembly, Alysa DeAlmeida signed the “No texting while driving” pledge. The sophomore said she plans to get her learner’s permit next week. Nobody should text and drive, she said, because texting is “really distracting.” What about at a red light or stop sign?  That’s OK, she said, but still stay aware of what’s going on around you.

Overhearing the conversation, school custodian Lee Kille added two anecdotes about texting—without driving. One WMHS student walked off a sidewalk at the high school while texting, he said. And while he was texting, he said he walked into a wall.