Lakewood Students Learn Texting Can Wait

Lakewood High School students got a wake-up call during homeroom this week.

“People will tell you over and over again, ‘It’s not your fault,’ but… having a Highway Patrol officer write in a report that a text message sent at 12:05 is the reason that she is dead, is not something that will ever go away.”

Those are the words of Amanda Umscheid of Kansas. Amanda was texting with her sister Ashley, when Ashley lost control of the vehicle she was driving. Ashley did not survive. Amanda tells Ashley’s story in the AT&T documentary, The Last Text. All Lakewood students viewed the documentary during homeroom this week.

Students also got the opportunity to try an online texting-while-driving simulator during their lunch periods. The simulator was provided by AT&T as part of the company’s It Can Wait campaign against texting while driving. It gave students a safe way to see first-hand how distracted and prone to danger they are, when trying to text and drive at the same time.

In fact, AT&T’s It Can Wait campaign has very recently won over what had to be its toughest audience yet:  not teenagers, but rival wireless companies. And not just one of them, but all of the biggies: Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. All three have now agreed to join AT&T in the It Can Wait campaign, which means we’re likely to be hearing the important message discouraging this driving distraction even more often this summer.

AT&T’s Chairman and CEO, Randall Stephenson, put the message into statistical context. “Texting while driving is a deadly habit that makes you 23 times more likely to be involved in a crash,” said Stephenson. “Awareness of the dangers of texting and driving has increased, but people are still doing it. With this expanded effort, we hope to change behavior. Together, we can help save lives.”

The newly expanded campaign will feature a multi-million dollar, co-branded advertising campaign from AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile, encouraging everyone to immediately take a pledge against texting while driving it at www.itcanwait.com. The campaign will focus on the stories of people who are living with the consequences of texting while driving.  The first story in the campaign will be of Xzavier Davis-Bilbo, who in 2010 at five-years-old was struck while crossing the street by a young woman texting while driving—leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. 

A recent AT&T survey shows that texting while driving is an epidemic, and one that is not isolated to teen drivers. The survey found business commuters know texting while driving is unsafe, but they still engage in these behaviors. In fact:

•     They are texting and driving more than they used to: Six in 10 commuters said they never texted while driving three years ago.

•     Nearly half of commuters admit to texting while driving, which is more than teens: 49-percent of commuters self-report texting while driving, compared to 43-percent of teens.

•     This happens, despite business commuters knowing the risks: 98-percent said sending a text or email while driving isn’t safe.

•     And for many, it has become a habit: More than 40-percent of those who admitted to texting while driving called it a habit.

For more information, visit www.ItCanWait.com.