distracted driving - WKTV Journal

By: Mike DeWitt

It only takes one second, one glance down at your phone, to completely change a life. As technology and social networks continually innovate the way we communicate, they constantly vie for our attention throughout the day. Even when driving a car, a metal box hurling down the freeway at deadly speeds, it can be tempting to stay engaged to our social circles around us.

Back in 2010, AT&T created the It Can Wait campaign: a strong and simple message to put down your cell phone while driving. Now, in response to a recent findings on distracted driving, AT&T has shifted their campaign to reach U.S. Hispanics – Puede Esperar.

Puede Esperar is a direct response to new research that found 83 percent of Hispanics admitting to using their smartphone behind the wheel. That number is higher than an already staggering 71 percent of Americans as a whole that admit to distracted driving. Of that 83 percent, half admit to using their smartphone to social network while driving, more than a quarter (28%) take selfies or photos, and nearly 70 percent send texts messages.

The Puede Esperar campaign focuses on education and practical tools to help combat distracted driving. The campaign includes:

• The AT&T DriveMode app is now available in Spanish and open to all carriers. The app helps curb the urge to text and drive by silencing incoming text messages once the car reaches 15 MPH.

• A 360-degree video experience that simulates the potentially deadly consequences of glancing at your phone while driving. The video can be viewed on your smartphone.

• A coast-to-coast virtual reality tour visiting local high schools and community events in more than a dozen cities by year-end.

• A website to help share information and resources.

While the most recent campaign focuses on reaching the Hispanic population, it’s a problem that everyone needs to address.

“Now more than ever we need to focus on those who put themselves at high risk behind the wheel,” said Sandra Howard of AT&T. “We want them to know the dangers and take the pledge. Ultimately, we want them to keep their eyes on the road, not on their phones.”

Since the original campaign launched in 2010, It Can Wait has helped grow awareness of the dangers of distracted driving, inspired more than 8 million pledges to keep their eyes off their phones and on the road, and collaborated with AT&T data scientists on research that shows the impact statewide anti-texting laws have on the rates of texting while driving.

Remember, that text, snapchat, photo, tweet, and instagram post isn’t worth a life. Put away your cell phones and focus on the road ahead.

Students designed this poster through an education campaign coordinated by the Kent County Sheriff’s Department Photos provided by School News Network

by Charles Honey, School News Network

Kenowa Hills Public Schools, MI — Jim Freybler hushed an auditorium full of teenagers, then told them that texting a few words on a cell phone was all it took to kill his son Jacob.

“You guys need to think about that, OK?” Freybler told the recent assembly at Kenowa Hills High School. “Texting takes lives. Your parents don’t want to be up here like I am.”

The father’s brief but powerful appeal hit home with many students at the school where Jacob would have been a senior this year. The 17-year-old was killed in a car accident June 18 when his car crossed the center line on Eighth Avenue near Marne and crashed head-on with an SUV. Ottawa County sheriff’s deputies said he had been sending and receiving texts at the time.

His father’s testimony capped a day-long program on the dangers of distracted driving. It had been planned long before Jacob’s death, and some wondered if it should be called off because of the accident. His family insisted it go on.

Students wore T-shirts in memory of Jacob Freybler, who died in a car crash involving texting

“I said, ‘We have to do it. We’ve got to get the message out,’” Jim Freybler said. “There’s too many people out there that are texting and driving. They’re eating, putting on makeup, weaving all over the road. It’s not just kids, it’s adults too.”

He teamed with Jim Blaszak, a State Farm Insurance agent who organized the event as a way to give back to his alma mater and raise awareness. Blaszak said he’s lost a lot of former classmates to distracted driving.

“It used to be drunk driving was the big thing,” Blaszak said. “The biggest drug on the planet right now is a smart phone in the car.”

Students wore T-shirts in memory of Jacob Freybler, who died in a car crash involving texting

‘People are Learning from the Mistakes He Made’

The Kent County Sheriff’s Department collaborated in the event, in which students simulated distracted-driving scenarios on table-top computers and a stationary car in the parking lot.

Sheriff’s deputies started seeing a trend of distracted-driving related crashes several years ago, said Deputy Tim Erhardt, a resource officer at the high school. He helped start an educational campaign in which students competed with videos, posters and other materials for a program that eventually reached about 27,000 students.

The problem remains so prevalent, Erhardt said, that he got two radio calls about distracted-driving accidents while he was overseeing the simulations at Kenowa.

Students said the simulators helped them realize how easy it is to be distracted by not just texting but by passengers. Kevin Elliott, who crashed his video vehicle while sending a text, said he had talked to Jacob Freybler shortly before his fatal accident.

“He’d have been pretty happy to see people are learning from the mistakes he made,” said Elliott, a senior.

“He’s basically living his senior year,” said Karley Lynn Mead, a close friend, pointing to the gym full of students at the assembly. “He would feel proud, like, ‘Wow, people actually care.’”

A football game Oct. 3 is to be dedicated to Jacob and help raise money for a scholarship in his honor, with the sale of T-shirts, decals and wristbands.

Principal Katie Pennington said the effort was a way to help students heal from Freybler’s death while teaching them something valuable. “The more we can hammer them with this message, the more we can impact their behavior outside of school.”

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Report on Jacob Freybler’s death