“No Texting While Driving” pledge reaches 541 people

By Daniel Park

Writer

Lori Brennet, along with the University’s Workplace Safety Committee and Bucknell Student Government (BSG), recently sanctioned the “No Texting While Driving Pledge” with the goal of urging students and faculty to avoid texting and driving simultaneously. Each year, the committee sponsors a different campaign; last year’s was seat belt safety. The committee posted the pledge two weeks ago on myBucknell for University students, fellow relatives and faculty. It also mailed out a windshield decal and red letter urging students and faculty to avoid texting while driving.

The pledge itself takes roughly 30 seconds to complete and asks for a person’s name, email and checkbox pledging to not text while driving and to commit to spreading awareness of the campaign. A total of 541 people have participated so far: 374 students, 163 employees and four friends and relatives.

“Sixty percent of young teens admit to risky driving habits and of that 60 percent, 46 percent say the root cause is texting,” the committee said. “There is no doubt that teens have the highest percentage of distracted drivers which lead to fatal crashes.”

The committee knows that this is a prolific problem that occurs not only in heavily populated cities, but here in Lewisburg as well. Though there is no law regarding talking on cellular phones or sending text messages while driving in Pennsylvania, there are emerging statistics that blatantly show the correlation between cellphone use and car crashes.

“In Pennsylvania, roughly 1,300 cellphone related accidents occur annually simply because teens aren’t fully aware of the dangers of driving while texting … It really is an important topic that should be dealt with seriously. Spreading awareness can reduce auto related injuries and deaths drastically,” the committee said.

Several states have already attempted to pass bills on regulating the texting-while-driving conflict, such as one that would make texting while driving a secondary offense.

“This pledge has been supported not only on several college campuses but also in other work areas such as hospitals and offices. It really is an important topic that should be dealt with seriously. Spreading awareness can reduce auto-related injuries and deaths drastically,” the committee said.