As part of its ongoing campaign against people using their smartphone while driving, AT&T just released a powerful video showing just how quickly an average day in the neighborhood can turn deadly with just one swipe of a finger across a screen.
The video shows a mom driving with her daughter and a dad talking on a hands-free phone about dinner. In a moment, they have a violent head-on collision because the mother took her eyes off the road for a few seconds to check on a Facebook picture she posted of her daughter earlier in the day.
It’s haunting because we’ve all done it. This video is a reminder of just how stupid — and dangerous — that is.
In fact, AT&T commissioned a study that found 7 out of 10 drivers engage in some activity on their phone while they’re behind the wheel. But we’re not just talking picking up a call. No. Nearly half of drivers use social media while driving, and 3 out of 10 surf the internet. A shocking 1 in 7 drivers admitted they have used Twitter while behind the wheel. Twitter!
This latest video is part of AT&T’s larger campaign against distracted drivers on their smartphones called It Can Wait.
“When we launched It Can Wait five years ago, we pleaded with people to realize that no text is worth a life,” Lori Lee, AT&T’s global marketing officer says. “The same applies to other smartphone activities that people are doing while driving. For the sake of you and those around you, please keep your eyes on the road, not on your phone.”
The It Can Wait campaign has already encouraged more than 7 million pledges from drivers who promise to put the phone away while driving. AT&T also offers an app called DriveMode that silences alerts and sends an auto-reply to let people know you’re driving and can’t respond. Pretty smart.
So the next time you get behind the wheel of the car, please put the phone away. If these statistics don’t scare you out of your bad driving habits, then AT&T’s new video surely will.
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