AT&T: Smartphone use while driving goes beyond texts
AT&T’s latest campaign shows the activities drivers do with their smartphones, while behind the wheel.
Wireless carrier AT&T released the findings of a study that showed that four-in-10 smartphone users tap into social media while driving, almost three-in-10 surf the net, and surprisingly, one-in-10 videochat.
While texting and emailing are still the most prevalent activities that people engage in on their smartphones while driving, they are also tapping into Facebook and about one-in-seven are on Twitter while behind the wheel.
As a result of the findings, AT&T said it will expand the “It Can Wait” campaign from a focus on texting while driving to include other smartphone driving distractions that have emerged as their relationships with mobile devices have changed.
“When we launched It Can Wait five years ago, we pleaded with people to realize that no text is worth a life,” said Lori Lee, AT&T’s global marketing officer. “The same applies to other smartphone activities that people are doing while driving. For the sake of you and those around you, please keep your eyes on the road, not on your phone.”
The study showed that smartphone activities people say they do while driving include: Text (61 percent); e-mail (33 percent); surf the net (28 percent); Facebook (27 percent); snap a selfie/photo (17 percent); Twitter (14 percent); Instagram (14 percent); shoot a video (12 percent); Snapchat (11 percent); and, video chat (10 percent). AT&T polled 2,067 smartphone users for the study.
AT&T said it will use the survey findings to help drive awareness of the dangers of smartphone use behind the wheel. It will team up with Twitter — which will share messages on their platform about the dangers of smartphone while driving — as well as Samsung, Bose and Google.
