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AT&T’s It Can Wait Campaign

AT&T’s latest commuter survey discovered that while most adults recognize the dangers of texting while driving, almost half of them still do it (49%). More so than teens (43%)! What once was considered more of a generational problem among teens, considering they send 5 times more text messages than adults, is really a much bigger issue for adults. In fact, 40% of adults even call it a “habit.”

Click here to learn more about AT&T’s It Can Wait Campaign as featured in USA Today.

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Home » How To Be a Better Dad » Teen Driving and Texting: Take The Pledge

Summer is starting and the most dangerous days for teen driving is the 100 days between Memorial Day to Labor Day. Take the Pledge and join SingleDad and stop texting when driving

Teen Driving and Texting: Take The Pledge

Author: RJ Jaramillo, Editor, SingleDad

Posted: 05/20/12

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Teen Driving and Texting:

As a parent of two teen drivers, my biggest fear is getting a phone call about a car accident that my teen is involved in. My challenge as a parent is to lead by example. That’s why I took “The Pledge” on At&T’s Facebook Page and made a commitment not to text while driving.

Lets face it, the only thing that smart phones do these days is create more games, music, and more mobile distractions for our teens. We all want to keep our children alive and safe and that’s why AT&T began a campaign called, “It Can Wait” hoping to educate parents the facts and dangers of texting while driving. Go to the AT&T Facebook Page and make your pledge on keeping your teen safe this summer.

AT&T’s additional research revealed the following:

Highlights from the Survey

A recent survey of 1,200 teens revealed that, while 97 percent of teens know texting while driving is dangerous, 43 percent of them admit to sending a text while driving – and 75 percent say the practice is common among their friends. Additionally, 77 percent of teens say adults warn against risks, but text & drive ‘all the time.’

· Peer Pressure: Almost all teens (89 percent) expect a reply to a text or email within five minutes or less.

· Knowledge but Little Action: 75 percent of teens say texting while driving is very dangerous – but 43 percent admit to doing so.

· “Gateway” Dangers: 70 percent of teens believe texting while stopped at a red light is dangerous.

o Still, 60 percent of teens admit to texting at a red light and 73 percent admit to glancing at their phone at a red light.

o 61 percent of teens say they glance at their phone while driving, and 61 percent have seen their friends read or send an email, or text, while driving.

· Learning by Example: According to 77 percent of teens, adults tell kids not to text while driving – yet adults do it themselves “all the time.”

o 41 percent of teens report seeing their parents read or send an email, or text, while driving.

o Still, 89 percent of teenagers say their own parents are good role models in terms of not texting while driving.

o And, 62 percent of teens feel that getting reminders from their own parents not to text and drive would be effective in getting them or their friends to stop texting and driving.

· Minority Disparities: Hispanic teens (54 percent) are more likely to admit to the practice of texting while driving than Caucasian (41 percent) and African-American (42 percent) teens.

o Hispanic teens (52 percent) also are more likely to report seeing their parents text while driving, compared to 38 percent of Caucasian teens and 44 percent of African-American teens who reported seeing their parents text while driving.

· What Helps Lessen the Urge: 89 percent of teens said a phone app to prevent texting & driving – like AT&T DriveMode^TM – would be an effective way to get them or their friends to stop texting and driving. AT&T DriveMode^TMprovides a customizable auto-reply message notifying friends that the user is driving and will respond when it is safe.

Richard Jaramillo Richard “RJ” Jaramillo, is the Founder of SingleDad.com, a website and social media resource dedicated to single parenting and specifically for the newly divorced, re-married, widowed and single Father with children. RJ is self employed, entrepreneur living in San Diego and a father of three children. The mission of SingleDad is to help the community of Single Parents “Make Life Happen…Again!”