National Auto Body Council Says It Can Wait® When It Comes To Texting And Driving During Prom And Graduation Season
Oak Creek, WI (PRWEB) April 15, 2015 -- Prom and graduation season is here! With it comes the excitement of sharing photos, videos and texts with friends and families. But it also is accompanied by an elevated risk for teen drivers, particularly when they are sharing those photos and texts while driving.
The National Auto Body Council (NABC) is teaming up with its members nationwide in the collision industry to help reduce this danger on the road by partnering with AT&T to support its It Can Wait® campaign.
“The collision repair industry sees firsthand the negative consequences of distracted driving and want to help people reduce their risk of being in an accident,” said Dan Young, Senior Vice President of CARSTAR and Chair of NABC’s, Distracted Driving Initiative. “Through the It Can Wait campaign, we can educate drivers about the dangers of texting and driving, and engage drivers, their families and friends in putting down the phone and focusing on the road.”
The National Auto Body Council’s Distracted Driving Initiative offers tips for teen drivers to reduce their driving distractions during prom and graduation season:
• Take – and share – your photos and videos before you get in the car
• Designate someone who isn’t driving to manage the GPS
• Have the driver install an app that silences incoming texts and notifications – and lets the sender know that the recipient is behind the wheel
• Consider a car service if the budget allows
Information about one of the don’t text and drive apps, AT&T DriveMode® which silences message alerts and auto-replies when driving to let friends and family know you can't respond is available at the http://www.ItCanWait.com
A recent study of teen drivers from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that distraction was a factor in nearly 6 out of 10 moderate-to-severe teen crashes, which is four times as many as official estimates based on police reports. Researchers found that drivers manipulating their cell phone (includes calling, texting or other uses), had their eyes off the road for an average of 4.1 out of the final six seconds leading up to a crash. The researchers also measured reaction times in rear-end crashes and found that teen drivers using a cell phone failed to react more than half of the time before the impact, meaning they crashed without braking or steering.
The It Can Wait movement is making a difference. One-in-three people who’ve seen the texting while driving message say they’ve changed their driving habits. Together, advocates have raised the awareness of texting while driving to 97 percent or higher in every audience the campaign has polled. To take the pledge and get more information, visit http://www.ItCanWait.com.
kim kimbriel, National Auto Body Council, http://www.nationalautobodycouncil.org, +1 (520) 548-2000, [email protected]
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