AT&T Launches Program To Fight Texting While Driving

Mobile phone carrier AT&T announced this week that it will be launching a public awareness campaign to warn people of the dangers of texting while driving.

The campaign, called “It Can Wait,” will focus on the message that no text is worth dying for, according to the company.  AT&T said in a press release that it will spend “tens of millions of dollars” on the effort during the remainder of 2012. According to Securities and Exchange Commission filings, AT&T spent $2.359 billion on advertising during 2011, $2.982 billion in 2010, and $2.787 billion in 2009.

The campaign will have several components, according to the company, including encouraging its nearly quarter million employees and the employees of their suppliers to stop texting while driving. The effort will also use customer contact, traditional and social media to get out the message. AT&T said it plans to create a toolkit for students in high schools across the country, in addition to the website www.itcanwait.com and in store driving simulators.

The company also plans to work with device manufacturers to include an in-phone solution to the problem.

“Our goal is to save lives,” AT&T Connecticut State President Rodney Smith said in a statement, “I hear from far too many people whose lives have been forever changed by a texting-while-driving accident, and together, we want to spread the word about how deadly a single text can be. Texting and driving should be as unacceptable as drinking and driving.”