Niagara High School hosts event on texting and driving

NIAGARA — AT&T partnered with AAA and the Wisconsin State Patrol to host an event at Niagara High School called “It Can Wait”. AT&T started this partnership 7 years ago years ago when Wisconsin banned texting and driving.

Over half of all crashes among teen drivers are caused by distraction of cell phones. Over 24 and a half million people have taken the pledge to not text while behind the wheel including Students at Niagara High School today.

“If we get everyone together to change this, because it is not worth it at all. I think we all make the pledge, we can make it happen and eliminate the number of deaths from texting and driving,” said Maddie West, Senior at Niagara High School.

It can be easy for teenagers to hear stories and see videos of car crashes as a result of texting and driving. AAA has a program to show teenagers that they are not invincible.

“With the simulator does helps us illustrate the fact that, its not about being a good driver or a bad driver or a good multi trasker or a bad multi trascker. It’s simply impossible to do two task such as driving a viechle and manipulating your smart phone at the same time without them interfering with each other,” said Nick Jarmusz, Director of Public Affairs for AAA.

There are different alternatives offered on smart phones to prevent texting and driving.

“When you’re behind the wheel focus on the road, not your smart phone. Put your smart phones down. There are free apps out there that you can use so that if you are in the car and driving. It’ll automatically send a message back to people who are texting or calling you letting them know you are driving and you will respond when youre in a safe spot. No text is worth a life put it down,” said Robyn Gruner, Director of External Affairs for ATT&T Wisconsin.

If you are interested in joining the pledge click HERE.