AT&T brings national It Can Wait campaign, virtual simulator to District Five school

CHAPIN, SC – Students at Chapin High School learned valuable lessons about the dangers of texting while driving during a school event on Sept. 21.

AT&T’s It Can Wait campaign brought its newly upgraded virtual reality simulator to the Lexington-Richland District Five high school, allowing students and faculty to experience firsthand the real-life risk of being on a smartphone while behind the wheel. Officials from the school, AT&T and local lawmakers also led a schoolwide assembly, urging students to take a pledge to avoid all forms of distracted driving.

“As educators, we want to help our students achieve academically while learning to make wise decisions and exercise responsible citizenship,” said Chapin High School Principal Dr. Akil Ross. “I can think of no greater example of citizenship than intentionally choosing to behave in a way that saves someone’s life, if not your own.” We appreciate the commitment of our local lawmakers on the issue and are pleased to host this simulator. If the life of one of our students is saved because of this event, it will have been one of the most important lessons taught on our campus today.”

It Can Wait is a national movement urging drivers to visit www.ItCanWait.com, where they can pledge to keep their eyes on the road, not on their phone, and share their pledge with others via Twitter (#ItCanWait) and Facebook. What started as a campaign focused on not texting and driving has now expanded its focus to the broader dangers of smartphone use behind the wheel. Since its launch in 2010, the campaign has:

• Helped drive awareness of the dangers of texting while driving to about 90% for all audiences surveyed.
• Inspired more than 7 million pledges not to text and drive.
• Worked with departments of transportation in Texas, Kentucky and other states on research that suggests a correlation between It Can Wait campaign activities and a reduction in crashes.

Approximately 70 percent of people use their smartphone to text, check social media or even email while driving. AT&T officials say spreading the It Can Wait message could help curb the numbers and save lives.

“Through the national It Can Wait campaign, we hope to make texting and driving as unacceptable as drinking and driving,” said Ted Creech, director of external affairs for AT&T South Carolina. “We all know how wireless services keep us more connected with each other, and with information and opportunities. But if we do not use wireless safely, it can change lives in very negative ways, too.”

South Carolina Reps. Nathan Ballentine and Chip Huggins were among the officials speaking to students at the schoolwide assembly. Texting while driving is illegal in South Carolina. Though fines are minimal, the risks are great, officials said.

“I use a smartphone and understand the attraction of staying connected with friends or family through text or social media,” said Rep. Ballentine. “But it is hard to stay connected if you’re dead. My own children are now reminding me that there is no message, search or post that can’t wait until it can be done safely and off the road.”

Huggins said, “Used wisely, cell phones are tremendously useful tools, both in personal lives and in business. Yet behind the wheel of a car, they can be dangerous. I appreciate programs like It Can Wait for helping all of us better understand the dangers of distracted driving.”

Students at Chapin High School say the simulator was shockingly realistic and effective in changing their attitudes towards texting while driving.

“It certainly got my attention, and I think it got the attention of a lot of kids today,” said Baylor Manley, a senior at the school. “It affects other people, so we all need to be more aware of that and more careful.”

Junior Logan Budzynski said, “You don’t have to be sending a message. You can just be reading a message, and it can change someone’s life… It can definitely wait.”