DUNCAN, Okla_We are continuing
our coverage of the national campaign to crack down on texting while driving.
We know it's a problem that won't go away soon, and educating teens on the
dangers is no simple task. Wednesday at Duncan
High School, they tried, at a special
assembly to recognize "No Texting While Driving Pledge Awareness Day"
in Oklahoma.
While the governor's proclamation is a good start, it won't stop teens from
doing something that has become a dangerous habit.
It's a habit,
and it's a hard habit to break. A national survey says almost half of all teens
admitted to doing it, but at Duncan
High School, the kids said
100 percent text and drive, they do it, and all of their friends do it. And
they know they shouldn't do it.
Sending an
average text takes your eyes off the road long enough to travel the length of
almost one and a half football fields. Almost a thousand freshmen through
seniors gathered to watch a video, the same video we showed you last week on 7News.
You could have heard a pin drop. You could see the truth about the dangers of
texting and driving on their faces. They know it's real, Kelsey was riding with
a friend, who was sending a text.
"They
almost rear ended a car and so I yelled at them to stop but yeah it's
scary."
Cody doesn't
usually text and drive with people riding in his truck.
"If I need
to text somebody usually they'll be able to text them. Sometimes I send one
though."
The one
sometimes, could someday be his last time. In the movie a girl sent a text to
her sister and that text caused the accident that took her life. Cody has a
sister, they text, and that caused him to stop and think.
"I
couldn't imagine me sending my sister a text message and knowing that I'm the
one that caused her death."
When people
text and drive, and something tragic happens members of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol
have a tough job to do, and it's the part of the job they enjoy the least.
"You're
going to knock on a door and tell a total stranger that their daughter son
husband brother is not coming home because they've been killed in a traffic
accident," Lieutenant Joe Williams said.
After watching
the video some of the students signed the "It Can Wait" pledge. Teachers,
members of law enforcement and parents hope they take it to heart.
AT&T's
texting while driving simulator will be at Cameron University
on October 16th, so you can see first hand the dangers of texting while
driving.
