AT&T's 'It Can Wait' Campaign Says No Text is Worth Dying

Cellular devices have become integral in interpersonal communication and texting is one of the most popular forms of communication for teenagers today. There has been a sharp increase in the number of accidents, messaging due to distracted driving.

Wireless provider AT&T (News - Alert) urged all Americans to pledge to stop texting while driving, and then to join with others on Sept. 19 to make a lifelong commitment to never do so again. The pledge effort is part of the company’s public awareness campaign aimed directly at stopping the dangerous practice of texting while driving.

AT&T, its employees, and other supporters are calling on all drivers to go to www.itcanwait.com to take the no-texting-and-driving pledge, and then share their promise with others.

Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA), a dynamic and effective national student organization that helps young men and women become leaders and address important personal, family, work, and societal issues through Family and Consumer Sciences education, is now teaming with AT&T as they expand their "It Can Wait" campaign to discourage all drivers, particularly young people, that no text message is worth the damages it can cause.

“Our goal is to save lives,” Randall Stephenson, chairman and chief executive officer at AT&T said in a statement.  “We’re challenging everyone to take the pledge to never text and drive and to make it a lifelong commitment.”

Stephenson also emphasized that the company is challenging all device makers and app developers to offer devices that come pre-loaded with a no-text-and-drive technology solution.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 20 percent of injury crashes in 2009 involved reports of texting while driving and 18 percent of fatalities in distracted-driving cases involved cell phone use. Thirty states and Washington, D.C., have banned texting while driving, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.

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