TECHNOLOGY

Kilmartin, DOT, AT&T partner on texting campaign

By Emily Greenhalgh PBN Web Editor Twitter: @EGreenhalgh Posted 8/22/12

PROVIDENCE The R.I. Department of Transportation and Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin are joining forces to bring AT&Ts Txting & Drivng It Can Wait campaign to Rhode Island schools. According to a joint release, 43 percent of teenagers admit to sending texts while they drive even though they know texting while driving is dangerous. The It Can Wait campaign will launch on September 19 with a visit to Cranston High School East by Kilmartin, DOT Director Michael Lewis, Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, AT&T New England President Patricia Jacobs and school officials. Texting while driving is a choice, and a bad one at that. We encourage all drivers to make the right choices behind the wheel, like putting away handheld devices, obeying the speed limit and always buckling up, Lewis said in prepared remarks. Young drivers, in particular, are inexperienced behind the wheel and dont need additional distractions. As we have learned, the consequences of sending or reading a text can be deadly. Dont text and drive. It can wait. Whether turning the phone off, taking a pledge, or just making it a personal practice, the next time you think about sending or answering a text while operating a vehicle please remember it can wait, Kilmartin, who

sponsored the states landmark legislation in 2009 banning texting while driving, said in a statement. The reality is that no message is so urgent that it is worth diverting attention from the road and risking lives in the process. added Kilmartin. By sharing the sobering consequences of texting while driving to young drivers, we hope to change young drivers attitudes about the subject and encourage the public to put away cell phones while behind the wheel. More than 100,000 automobile crashes a year are caused by testing and driving, according to statistics from the National Safety Council. Our goal is to save lives, AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said in a statment. I hear from far too many people whose lives have been forever changed by a texting-while-driving accident, and together, we want to spread the word about how deadly a single text can be. Wed like to see texting and driving become as socially unacceptable as drinking and driving. Drivers can go to www.itcanwait.com to take a no-texting-and-driving pledge, and then share their promise with others via Twitter (#itcanwait) and Facebook.

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