The high number of car accidents caused by distracted driving seems to have had an impact on the country’s most popular cellphone carriers. The four largest cellphone companies have joined to create an advertising campaign to reduce car accidents caused by distracted driving, and to warn drivers about the dangers of texting while driving.
The cellphone companies will be using AT&T’s “It Can Wait” slogan in their radio and TV advertisements this summer in hopes of raising awareness to the risks fo cellphone use behind the wheel. In addition to the TV and radio ads, the campaign will also be displaying ads on Goodyear’s blimps, in stores displays, at community events and on social media.
The four companies involved in the campaign are AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. They are also joined by 200 other organization that are promoting the campaign against texting and driving.
After seeing an increase in car accidents caused by texting drivers, cellphone companies started to back the federal government’s campaign against texting and driving. The major cellphone companies involved in the campaign say that they know the risks of cellphone use and want all drivers to be aware of these risk to make sure everyone stays safe on the road.
Safety officials say that drivers who text behind the wheel are 23 times more likely to be in a car accident because the act of reading or sending a text message takes a person’s attention off the road and onto the conversation, as well as the physical aspect of using a cellphone to read or send a text message.
The campaign will last until September but it may continue if the companies agree to continue their partnership.
Source: CBS 8, “Big 4 cellphone carriers unite on anti-texting ad,” May 14, 2013