Distracted Driver Awareness Month

How has such a small device, as a smartphone, catapulted us into a world of more photos, more connections, more adventures but then how has it become so destructive? In the palm of your hand, smartphones opened your world, but at the same time when put behind the wheel, distracted driving is the cause of many collision disasters.

Today, nearly 95% of people consider smartphone distracted driving to be dangerous.

But nearly 9-in-10 people admit to doing it anyway.1 It’s so common that almost a quarter of people don’t consider it an issue.¹Â Â But it is a problem.

What are distracted drivers doing?

• Over 50% of smartphone users admit to texting, posting on social media, surfing the net, and even watching video while driving!¹
• Drivers video chatting and playing games is also on the rise, over 30% at the end of 2019.¹
• Tens of thousands of people are injured – and hundreds die – every year due to smartphone distracted driving.²
• More than a third of drivers call distracted driving a habit.¹
• And a growing number say their smartphone has become essential for getting around.³
• Taking action and speaking up can help reduce distracted driving.¹
• However, more than half of people are more likely to stop driving distracted if a friend or passenger pressures them to.¹

Let’s put on the pressure.

You can start with pressure on yourself. Make a commitment to the passengers in your vehicle, your family, and those with which you share the road, that you will stay focused on driving.

IT CAN WAIT

• Take the pledge. Commit to no smartphone distracted driving. Through AT&T campaign IT CAN WAIT, you can make the pledge:

“I pledge to always drive distraction-free. No exceptions. I pledge to never allow my phone to endanger myself or others behind the wheel. I pledge to be an advocate for the cause. To lead by example and spread the message. I pledge because I believe driving distraction-free can save lives and make the world a better place.�

• Speak up! Share your pledge on social media #itcanwait, school, and work.
• Assign a designated texter. Next car ride, if you feel you need to respond, ask someone in your vehicle to respond to notifications.

Let’s pledge to change the statistics for distracted driving and save lives.

Listen to this story. It will change your mind on how you drive:

1 Online survey with 624 respondents conducted by Added Value. Ongoing survey, data represented here were collected July 2019-September 2019. National panel sample (ages 15-54, drive, and have a smartphone).
2 U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Distracted Driving 2015 Report, Table 6
3Research commissioned by AT&T, and Braun Research. A 10-minute online survey was fielded among a nationally representative sample of 2081 American drivers.
4National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Traffic Safety Facts Research Notes 2016: Distracted Driving.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, DC: NHTSA; 2015. Available at https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812517external icon. Accessed 25 March 2019.

Source materials can be found at itcanwait.com