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AT&T Campaign Drives Home Message of Dangers of Texting Behind the Wheel

City Council and the school district support a campaign to discourage teenagers from reaching for phones when driving.

On Monday, California High School senior Ashley Jensen and two other students presented a bill to Congress that would extend, to the rest of the United States, the California law that makes texting while driving illegal.

The students made the presentation in San Ramon in a mock Congress exercise in their advanced placement government class. The 17-year-old said her group wanted to focus on an important problem that applies to most youth, whether they're behind the wheel or in the passenger seat.

"It is a really big issue because teens are so attached to their phones—you can't go into a classroom and not see people with them," she said.

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Texting while driving is illegal in 16 states including California, which put the law into effect Jan. 1, 2009.

A recent Pew study reported that 26 percent of American teenage drivers texted behind the wheel, and 48 percent of youth ages 12 to 17 have been passengers while a driver was texting. A Virginia Tech study found that an accident is 23 times more likely while sending an electronic message.

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But not enough people are aware of the dangers associated with the habit, said Ken Mintz, external affairs area manager for AT&T, which is leading a national "No Texting While Driving Campaign" that has reached teenagers in San Ramon.

He presented the campaign to City Council members Tuesday, and the council issued a proclamation in support of the campaign.

"It's not only a question of sending text messages, I know a lot of students who could send text messages behind their backs," Mintz said. "The problem is when you take your eye off the road to read a message, within five seconds you can go half a football field and not even know what you're going."

Texting while driving is more dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to a study by Transport Research Laboratory in England. Drunk driving reduces reaction time by 12 percent and marijuana reduces it by 21 percent, according to the study. Texting while driving reduces it by 35 percent.

Getting the word across is critical, Mintz said, as the number of text messages being sent is "much, much higher every year, growing tremendously." Last year, AT&T alone recorded 500 billion text messages in its system.

At its May 11 board meeting, the San Ramon Valley Unified School District presented a proclamation in support of AT&T's efforts to educate students on this issue.

"It's a universal issue among teenagers right now so we're trying to do our part to make sure our kids remain safe," said Terry Koehne, spokesperson for the district.

Koehne said he is not aware of any accidents involving San Ramon high school students who were texting while driving. Regardless, he said students should take the issue seriously. Leadership groups at schools, for example, could put on campaigns to discourage it, he said.

But Ashley Jensen, who admits checking text messages at stop signs "only when it's necessary," said it may be difficult to change habits ingrained in people's daily lives.

"We can't stop people from doing what they do. We can only help them see the dangers of it," she said.

California High senior Amy Niedzwecki, 17, said she hopes to see texting information in drunk driving education programs like "Every 15 Minutes."

Amy, who said she never reaches for her phone while driving, estimated that 70 to 80 percent of San Ramon high school students do.

"It makes me nervous because I know that I can't do it, so the fact that other people do it scares me," she said.

City Council Member David Hudson said the Secretary of Transportation in Washington, D.C., has announced plans to attack texting that would be similar to efforts like Click It or Ticket and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

"This is the country's next big thing to stop," Hudson said.

Although May is National Youth Traffic Safety Month, Mintz said the AT&T campaign is designed to reach people of all ages.

"We want to make sure that everyone is clearly educated about how important it is to refrain from using this technology while behind the wheel," he said.

At the end his presentation at to the council earlier this week, Mintz drove one last point home: "If you are texting, take a look at the last text message that you received or you sent. Is it really worth dying for?"

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