Westerville South Teens Urged Not to Text and Drive

8/31/2012

The Ohio State Highway Patrol and AAA on August 29 joined with wireless provider AT&T to bring attention to a serious road safety problem, urging students at Westerville South High School to pledge to stop texting while driving.

“Texting and driving is a perilous mix. It endangers your own life and the lives of people you’ve never even met,” said State Representative Anne Gonzales, speaking before students in a recorded message. “I’m proud to join AT&T’s effort to remind drivers, especially our teenagers, of the potentially deadly consequences of texting while driving and the fact that this dangerous practice is now becoming illegal across Ohio.”

The state’s new texting and driving ban takes effect today — 90 days after Governor John R. Kasich signed the plan into law. A six-month warning period will follow. The new law has two levels of enforcement. For adult drivers who text message, enforcement is only secondary. This means that police need another reason to stop and cite violators, such as weaving or speeding. For drivers under the age of 18, however, texting and use of other portable electronic devices like cell phones will be a primary offense. The fine for adult violators is $150. For teen violators, fines top out at $300 with possible loss of the driver’s license. Ohio becomes the 39th state to ban text messaging while driving.

South students attended an assembly where they heard from an Ohio State Highway Patrol representative who explained the new law. Spokespersons from AAA and AT&T delivered messages about being a safe motorist, and Sharon Montgomery gave a powerful testimonial about the impact texting and driving can have on others. Her husband was killed and she was seriously injured several years back when their car was struck by a person who was texting and driving. Students were encouraged to sign a pledge and to try a distracted driving simulator during their lunch break.

“More than 100,000 times each year, an automobile crashes and people are injured or die while a driver was texting and driving,” said Tom Pelto, President of AT&T Ohio, citing a statistic from the National Safety Council. “Our goal is to save lives. AT&T applauds the efforts of the Ohio General Assembly – as well as Governor Kasich – on their efforts to pass and sign into law House Bill 99, the statewide texting while driving ban.”

AT&T is challenging everyone to take the pledge to never text while driving and to make it a lifelong commitment. To reduce the temptation to look away from the road, the company has launched the AT&T DriveMode mobile application. When downloaded and enabled, the app automatically sends a customizable reply to incoming texts – much like an “out of office” alert – notifying the sender that the user is driving and unable to respond.