Summerville First in 'W8 2 TXT' Campaign

S.C. State Highway Patrol and Subway visited to premier their new “W8 2 TXT” campaign, which focuses on reducing the number of texting and driving accidents among young people. 

Summerville High School is the first school out of five in the state chosen to be presented with the campaign, and one Highway Patrolman stated that this "should tell you how important SHS is" to be the first stop for the campaign.

At the presentation, Subway announced that in order to discourage texting and driving, they are asking five schools in South Carolina to go online and pledge to not text and drive.

The school with the highest percentage of students signing the pledge online will receive a free lunch from the restaurant, Subway Development Corporation of South Carolina Inc. CEO Ali Saifi said.

In true Chapel fashion, the SHS principal Burdette Chapel told Saifi that he should be prepared to have the lunch delivered to Summerville High School, confident in the school’s ability to have the most pledges. 

Saifi told the crowd that he was moved to start this campaign by a texting and driving accident that resulted in the death of the daughter of one of his Subway restaurant managers and explained to students that there is no "text, phone call, or email that cannot wait until you stop driving."

Common sense tells us that texting while driving is unsafe. The five seconds it takes to respond to a text is all it takes to lose control of a vehicle and cause serious damage to yourself or another driver. However, accidents because of it happen all the time. At the presentation, the police reported that 50 percent of accidents of people between the ages of 15 to 24 are due to texting and driving. 

And it isn't just students who are enticed to text and not wait.

Patricia Tolliver, director of school counseling, admitted that she has texted while driving before, and stated that no matter how you do it, it is a distraction on the road.

But one of the speakers brought home the message of the campaign: Ashley Marriah, who was ejected from her car in front a Subway because of texting and driving.

“I was just like you,” she told the students, “I thought I was invincible.” 

Involving the crowd in her speech, Marriah asked a few students what they wanted to be, and then asked them if they are all “willing to risk all of that for a text?”

The competition between Summerville High School and the other four high schools in the state will last through April, and SHS leadership council has already made plans to campaign in the school in order to get more students involved in the campaign and stop texting and driving, including handing out the specialized Subway glow in the dark wristbands. 

Those who are students at the five high schools competing in the campaign are asked to go to the campaign's website and make the pledge to stop texting and driving.

Click here to see participating schools across the state.

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