Sarah Taqvi Taqvi,S - STORY 2 An Answer to Distracted Driving: It Can Wait June 17, 2013 Budget line: An Answer

to Distracted Driving: It Can Wait Sources: Rachel Nayer Member of the Austin Youth Council o Phone: 512.565.0103 o Email: rlnayer@sasaustin.org o Date contacted: 6/15/13 o We discussed the goals of the council for the event. Georgia Hernandez Member of the Austin Youth Council o Phone: 512.912.7906 o Email: GHernandez@annrichardsstars.com o Date contacted: 6/15/13 o We discussed the stats on texting while driving. Stormy Sky Davila Member of the Austin City Council o Phone: 512.552.8602 o Email: sdavila@annrichardsstars.com o Date contacted: 6/15/13 o We discussed the background of the Austin Youth Council. Rio Layla Esquivel Member of the Austin City Council o Email: rio.esq@gmail.com o Date contacted: 6/15/13 o We discussed the nature and content of text messages. Kathy Bond Mother of Accident Victim o Email: Kathy.Bond1@gmail.com o Date contacted: 6/15/13 and via email: 6/16/13 o We discussed her daughters accident and how shes helping to promote awareness for distracted driving. Bob Whitford Senior Occupational Therapist at St. Davids Rehabilitation Services o Phone: 512.544.8627 o Email: bob.whitford@stdavids.com o Date contacted: 6/15/13 o We discussed how such accidents impact the victim and every party involved. Laila Yazdani UT student o Email: persianlaily@gmail.com

o Date contacted: 6/16/13 o We discussed the ethics of distracted driving laws. Invisible sources/web sites used: Austin Police Department o Date accessed: 6/15/13 o Got information on their role in the handling of distracted driving. KXAN o URL: http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/austin/austin-youth-councilto-hold-anti-texting-campaign o Date accessed: 6/10/13 o Got background information on the event. KUT News o URL: http://kutnews.org/post/will-texting-and-driving-ban-make-texasroads-safer o Date accessed: 6/10/13 o Got information on the issue of texting while driving within Texas. Statesman.com o URL: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/opinion/support-ban-ontexting-while-driving/nWjRq/ o Date accessed: 6/11/13 o Got information on Governor Perrys prospective position on the texting ban. ABC News o URL: http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/wireStory/hands-free-textingdistracting-drivers-19382079#.Ub4BXfk3s9P o Date accessed: 6/13/13 o New AAA study information discussed on hands-free texting. Austintexas.gov o URL: http://www.austintexas.gov/news/austin-youth-council-joins-t-citypromote-%E2%80%98it-can-wait-austin%E2%80%99-no-texting-whiledriving-campaign o Date accessed: 6/11/13 o Press release information accessed. It Can Wait o URL: http://itcanwait.com/get-involved/ o Date accessed: 6/10/13 o Got general information on the AT&T campaign. AT&T o URL: http://www.att.com/gen/pressroom?pid=24205&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=36440&mapcode=txting_c an_wait

o Date accessed: 6/10/13 o Got AT&T stats and viewpoint on the issue. Edgar Snyder & Associates o URL: http://www.edgarsnyder.com/car-accident/cell-phone/cell-phonestatistics.html o Date accessed: 6/12/13 o Accessed national statistics for car accidents. Three ideas for follow-up stories: The status of the nationwide AT&T It Can Wait campaign The future of House Bill 63 and Senate Bill 28 Progress of distracted driving bills, campaigns, and events

Katrina Bond was like any other young student out of college- a new job and her first apartment, on the road to new beginnings. But one night driving back home from work, Katrinas car was hit by one of a teenager who had been checking a text message, and Katrina was killed at the scene. Almost two years later Katrinas mother, Kathy Bond, and more than 70 others showed their support Saturday for the launch of It Can Wait, Austin, a new sector of the nationwide AT&T campaign to further advance Austins awareness for safe driving habits among young adults. The countrywide It Can Wait campaign kicked off last month with the support of more than 200 organizations, including Verizon and T-Mobile to help advertise and focus on the stories of people who are coping with the results of texting while driving. Many advocates for the program have suggested that driving is a privilege that many people take for granted. Bob Whitford, Senior Occupational Therapist at St. Davids Hospital in Austin pointed out that St. Davids has concluded that there is no such thing as a motor vehicle accident. Rather, the accident is a collision facilitated by poor choices and the inability to maintain safe control of the vehicle. We need to disconnect with technology, Whitford says. The devices all have an on and off switch. We need to use them.

And technology is one of the main reasons for what transportation programs in the U.S. have labeled as a primary source for distracted driving, which is described by the Texas Department of Transportation as any non-driving activity while operating a motor vehicle including conversing, eating and talking or texting on a cell phone. Statistics by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have even shown that drivers who use a hand-held device are four times more likely to get into a crash serious enough to cause injury, while drivers who text are 23 times more likely to get involved in a crash. Rachel Nayer, a high school student and member of the Austin Youth Council, suggests that teenagers her age just havent understood the severity of the consequences yet. People are aware of it, but I dont think its really kind of sunk in, that its a bad thing to do, Nayer says. And that it can affect everyone. It can only take once to make the mistake. Its irreversible. Within the state of Texas, there are cities that already have texting and cellphone-use laws in place, such as laws for drivers younger than 18 and drivers in school crossing zones, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports. More specifically, recent efforts towards safe driving in Texas include Talk. Text. Crash., a multimedia campaign organized by the Texas Department of Transportation during April that attempted to educate the public on the insufficiency of performing any other task while texting in general.

But Texas is still one of the nine states in the U.S. that does not have a statewide law banning the use of a phone for text-based communication while operating a motor vehicle. Earlier this year, House Bill 63 and Senate Bill 28, both bills to establish a Texas law for banning cell phone use while driving a car, were proposed. Kathy Bond was among those who had testified in front of the Texas Senate after getting House Bill 63 passed. But Chairman Robert Nichols of the Senate Transportation committee voted against the Senate bill, postponing the voting session until 2015. Meanwhile, the Austin Youth Council attempted to bring light to the issue by organizing Saturdays event, of what advocates hope to be the first of many to promote distraction-less driving in Austin. To them, programs such as It Can Wait could eventually help decrease insurance rates too, through the legislated collection of GPS tracking data from phones. So if youre texting while driving, you could be more likely to pay a higher rate in insurance premiums. Beyond the statistics, there are drivers like UT student Laila Yazdani who think that distractions such as cell-phone usage are not enough to create such laws to decrease insurance rates. I dont think that insurance companies should track data, Yazdani says. I think that would just make more people angry. They should instead create incentives for people who dont text, not monitor their usage.

But backers like Kathy Bond are still set strong on their beliefs to do whatever they can to rid of any distracted accidents in the future. What I really want you to do is really pressure your friends and pressure your parents, Bond tells teenagers at Saturdays event about the urgency people feel to communicate. Because they may think that call is important, they may think that text is important, but nothing is as important as a life.