Home Home Exit 2 Text It

Exit 2 Text It

Share

What is “Exit 2 Text It.”

Exit 2 Text It is an effort by the Safe America Foundation, 100 Black Men of Atlanta, Inc., the Georgia Parent Teacher Association and Channel 2 WSB-TV to build public awareness  around the dangers of texting while driving and to encourage drivers of all ages to exit the roadway before reading and responding to text/email messages.

Texting and emailing while driving represent a triple threat.  It is so dangerous because it involves a convergence of visual, manual and cognitive distractions, all of which make texting while driving especially hazardous and potentially deadly.  So take the Exit 2 Text It pledge and help make Georgia’s roads safer.

Possible Changes to Georgia's Driving Laws and Texting

On May 7, 2010, the Georgia Legislature passed and sent to Governor Perdue two new laws prohibiting texting while driving on roads in Georgia.

Teen Cell Phone/Texting Ban

House Bill (HB) 23 bans all drivers under the age of 18 from engaging in wireless communication by means of talking, writing, sending, or reading a text-based communication, or listening on a wireless telecommunications device.  There is no exception for a hands-free device. To read the bill click here.

Adult Texting Ban

Senate Bill (SB) 360, known as the Caleb Sorohan Act – named after a teen who died while texting and driving –  bans all drivers 18 and older from “operat(ing) a motor vehicle…while using a wireless telecommunications device to write, send, or read any text based communication, including but not limited to a text message, instant message, e-mail, or Internet data.” To read the bill click here.

Texting & Distracted Driving Facts

  • The No.1 source of driver inattention is use of a wireless device.[1]
  • An average of 11 teens died each day due to car crashes that involved texting while driving.[2]
  • Texting while driving makes it up to 23 times more likely you will end up in a crash.[3]
  • Drivers distracted by reading and sending text and email messages take their eyes off the road on average of five seconds at a time.  At 55 mph, this is the equivalent of driving the length of a football field - completely blind.[4]
  • The reaction time of a texting driver is roughly equivalent to a driver with a Blood Alcohol Level of .08; that is like driving after having 4 beers.[5]
  • Currently 27 states, D.C. and Guam ban text messaging for all drivers.[6]
  • 10 percent of drivers aged 16 to 24 years old are on their phone at any one time.[7]
  • 330,000 injuries are caused every year by distracted driving.[8]
  • Driving while using a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent.[9]

Other Anti-Texting Campaigns

Allstate Teen Text Pledge

Distraction.gov

Oprah's No Phone Zone

State Farm Auto Learning Center

Distracted Driving Studies and Research

  • Virginia Tech Transportation Institute research, available at www.vtti.vt.edu
  • Insurance Institute for highway Safety fatality facts 2008, available at www.iihs.org
  • Setting Limits, Saving Lives -- The Case for .08 BAC Laws, available at www.nhtsa.dot.gov and A Comparison of the Cell Phone Driver and the Drunk Driver, available at http://dwiwatch.org/cell-phone-texting.php
  • National Safety Council Cell Phone fact sheet, available at www.nsc.org

 

[1] Virginia Tech Transportation Institute research, available at www.vtti.vt.edu

[2] IIHS fatality facts 2008, available at www.iihs.org

[3] Virginia Tech Transportation Institute research, available at www.vtti.vt.edu

[4] Virginia Tech Transportation Institute research, available at www.vtti.vt.edu

[5] Setting Limits, Saving Lives -- The Case for .08 BAC Laws, available at www.nhtsa.dot.gov and A Comparison of the Cell Phone Driver and the Drunk Driver, available at http://dwiwatch.org/cell-phone-texting.php

[6] http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html

[7] Nationwide Insurance 2009 Driving While Distracted Survey at http://www.nationwide.com/pdf/NW-Cell-Phone-Ban-final-survey-results.pdf

[8] National Safety Council Cell Phone fact sheet, available at www.nsc.org

[9] Carnegie Mellon Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging research, available at http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/health/2009/winter/just-drive.shtml