Drive 4 Pledges Day September 19th

A movement is accomplished through the voices and actions of many. That is why four national wireless service providers, spearheading the It Can Wait campaign, are urging people to share their commitment to never text and drive with others on Drive 4 Pledges Day, September 19.

Individuals can now sign up at ItCanWait.com to get resources that will help them share their commitment on social media and personalize the movement on the streets of their communities on key activation days. Aspiring to create a social stigma around this dangerous habit of texting while driving, Drive 4 Pledges Day will focus on getting individuals involved in taking the pledge to never text and drive while encouraging others in their community to do the same. These individuals will join AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile US, Inc., Verizon and more than 200 other organizations by sharing their commitment not to text and drive while increasing awareness of the dangers.

On September 19, Drive 4 Pledges Day, supporters of the movement are called to help spread the word to their families, friends and communities. Advocates will be encouraged to do things like change their social profile photos and banner to It Can Wait graphics, and share their personal pledge stories using the hashtag #ItCanWait. Offline activations will include hosting pledge drives and distributing posters in their schools, workplaces and neighborhoods. All materials such as social graphics and posters will be available for download from ItCanWait.com.

Distracted Driving: Txting - It can wait....

Distracted driving kills.  Whether it is drinking and driving or texting and driving, if you are not driving and paying attention to the road and your car, you are not only endangering yourself, you are a danger to others on the road.

AT&T has been committed to bring awareness and helping prevent distracted driving.

Below is a link to a video that AT&T shot last week during a teen safety fair in Washington D.C., sponsored by a DC TV station and the National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) — a network of national associations and federal agencies focused on youth safety and health. (You may recall, last May AT&T announced a $1 million commitment in the fight against texting and driving. That commitment involves a contribution to NOYS to develop and train student ambassadors on anti-texting-while-driving education. The students then host summits on the topic within their schools and hometowns throughout the school year.)

As part of the D.C. teen safety fair, AT&T had a TWD Simulator on site to give teens a first-hand experience at just how much of a distraction texting and driving can be.  As you’ll see from the video, the simulator is a full-sized car. Kids get in the simulator, put on goggles and start driving, using a heads-up street display in their goggles. They then send a text message and the inevitable result is the kid crashes into a car or a pedestrian.

Link to TWD Simulator:  http://silo.mediasilo.com/weblink/FBF9900EF2686B78BA344B8D06D55ECC/22455/

Background on our “Txting While Driving … It Can Wait” campaign:

While distracted driving is an issue for all motorists, teenagers are particularly at risk.  Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, and the proliferation of distracted driving among teens is a huge challenge.
That’s why AT&T”s “Txting…It Can Wait” public awareness campaign is especially focused on educating teens about the risks of texting while driving and spreading the message that text messages can wait.  Not even red lights, professionals say, signal a “safe” time to text.

As part of its campaign, AT&T has developed a powerful documentary called “The Last Text” that examines the real world consequences of texting and driving.  Each of the eight individuals in the video — whose lives have been impacted tragically by texting while driving — volunteered their stories to help educate Americans — particularly youth — on the risks of texting behind the wheel.  The documentary can be viewed online on the AT&T “It Can Wait” website and on the AT&T YouTube page.

Texting is so dangerous because it takes a driver’s eyes off the road for an average of 5 seconds.  At 55 mph, that’s like driving the length of a football field completely blind.  Studies show a driver’s reaction time is doubled when reading or sending a text, and that motorists sending a text while driving are 23 more times likely to be in a crash.

Teen Text Slang: Do You Know What Your Teen is Saying?

What are they saying?

Learning the teen language is only the beginning of parenting teenagers today.

Do you know the A-Z text codes?

Brought to you by TextZapper, now is a very good time to become an educated parent!
TextZapper is a parental-controlled cell phone app, which essentially has a message monitoring component that notifies the parent who is alerted via a text on their cell phone – if a suspicious text or email is sent to their son or daughter.

Any language which makes reference to sex, sexting, as well as things related to cyberbullying, suicide, guns, weapons or drugs – among many other things – are red-flagged.
There are more than 11,000 key words and phrases that trigger the notification. In addition to the alert about the message, the parent will also receive the phone number responsible for sending the message.

Here is an A-Z list of text codes you should know about:

• 1174   Nude club
• 182     I hate you
• 420     Marijuana
• 4Q      F*** You
• 53X     Sex
• 8         Oral sex
• 9         Parent is watching
• 99       Parent is no longer watching
• A/S/L/P  Age/Sex/Location/Picture
• A3         Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime
• ADIH     Another Day In Hell
• ASL       Age/Sex/Location
• banana  code word for penis
• BITFOB   Bring It The F*** On, Bitch
• BJ           Blow Job
• BM          Byte Me
• BMF        Bad Mother F***er
• BOHICA   Bend Over Here It Comes Again
• BTFO      Back The F*** Off -or- Bend The F*** Over
• BUFF       Big Ugly Fat F***
• CBF        Can't Be F***ed
• CBJ         Covered Blow Job
• CD9        Code 9 - it means parents are around
• CU46      See You For Sex
• DOC       Drug Of Choice
• DUM       Do You Masturbate?
• DURS     Damn You Are Sexy
• DUSL     Do You Scream Loud?
• EOL       End Of Life
• ESMF     Eat Sh** Mother F***er
• FAH        F***ing A Hot
• FAP       F***ing A Pissed
• FAYF***    All Y'all
• FBF***    Buddy -or- FaceBook
• FBI         F***ing Brilliant Idea -or- Female Body Inspector
• FMLTWIA   F*** Me Like The Whore I Am
• FMUTA      F*** Me Up The Ass
• FNG       F***ing New Guy
• FO         F*** Off
• FOAD    F*** Off And Die
• FU2       F*** You Too
• FUBAR  F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition (or Repair)
• FUBB    F***ed Up Beyond Belief
• GAFL    Get A F***ing Life
• GAGFI  Gives A Gay First Impression
• GAL      Get A Life
• HOIC     Hold On, I'm Coming
• I&I         Intercourse & Inebriation
• IBGYBG   I'll Be Gone, You'll Be Gone
• IPN        I'm Posting Naked
• ITS        Intense Text Sex
• IWBAPTKYAIYSTA   I Will Buy A Plane Ticket And Kick Your Ass If You Say That Again
• IWBNI    It Would Be Nice If
• IWFU     I Wanna F*** You
• IWIWU   I Wish I Was You
• IWSN     Want Sex Now
• IYAOYAS   If You Ain't Ordinance You Ain't Sh**
• kitty        Code word for vagina
• KPC        Keeping Parents Clueless
• KWSTA   Kiss With Serious Tongue Action
• L8R         Later
• L?^          Let's hook up
• LABATYD Life's A Bitch And Then You Die
• LAGNAF   Lets All Get Naked And F***
• LAQ          Lame Ass Quote
• LB?W/C    Like Bondage? Whips or Chains
• LBR and LGR   Little Boy's Room and Little Girl's Room
• LBUG or LBIG  Laughing Because You're Gay -or- Laughing Because I'm Gay
• LD            Long Distance -or- Later Dude
• LDIMEDILLIGAF  Look Deeply Into My Eyes, Does It Look Like I Give A F***
• LHOS       Lets Have Online Sex
• LHSO       Let's Have Sex Online
• LHU          Let's Hook Up
• LIB           Lying In Bed
• NICE        Nonsense In Crappy Existence
• NIFOC     Nude In Front Of The Computer
• NIGYYSOB  Now I've Got You, You Son Of a B*tch
• RUH            Are You Horny?
• RUMCYMHMD   Are You on Medication Cause You Must Have Missed a Dose
• RUMORF     Are You Male OR Female?
• SMB     Suck My Balls
• STM     Spank The Monkey
• URAPITA     You Are A Pain In The Ass
• URSAI          You Are Such An Idiot

ZapMyText and learn more about what your teens are talking about.  More importantly, be sure they are not text talking and driving.  Texting and driving is deadly - talk today to your teen about texting and driving and the life you save may be your child's.
Don't forget about distracted bicycling!  Too many teens are texting and pedaling, which is extremely dangerous too.  Read more.

Read more.

TextZapper: Because safety matters

Many people understand that driving distractions are the number one cause for teen auto accidents.  No matter how many time we talk to our teens about driving and texting, we still hear about horrific accidents - and some that are ending lives.

Oprah promotes The No Phone Zone and received many signatures from celebrities and all walks of life to take the pledge not to text and drive, including talking and driving.  The cell phones should simply be turned off or placed in the glove box where they won't distract the driver - of any age!

However teens being teens, never believe that these accidents can happen to them.  The joy of believing that bad things just happen to other people come with being youthful and immature (respectfully).

Some facts about distracted driving and teens:


• Currently 30 states have anti-texting laws.
• The #1 cause of teen deaths is car accidents.
• Over 5000 teens ages 16-20 die due to fatal injuries caused by car accidents each year.
• 16-19 year olds have the highest risk of being in an accident.
• Approximately 400,000 drivers ages 16-20 will be seriously injured in accidents, annually.
• 16-19 year olds are 4 times more likely than other drivers to be involved in a car crash.
• Teens are 10% of the US population, but account for 14% of all fatal car accidents.
• 60% of 16-18 year old drivers will be in a police-reported collision.
• Teen drivers ages 16-19 are 4 times more likely than older drivers to crash.
• There is an 89.2% chance of having a crash within the first 3 years of driving.
• There is a 52.5% chance of your teen having 2 crashes within the first 3 years of driving.
• Over 50% of all teen deaths from car accidents occur between 3pm and midnight, and 54% occur on weekends.

New to the market is TextZapper.

TextZapper provides a quick and easy solution to stop texting and emailing while driving, now protecting us all in a way never before possible.

Unfortunately TextZapper is currently only available on SmartPhones and hopefully will be expanded to others or possibly others have a similar product (please share in comments below).  There is a small monthly fee of $4.99 for TextZapper.  One benefit is parents can have peace of mind that the distraction of texting while driving is eliminated.


Learn more at www.zapmytext.com.

Whether you employ TextZapper or another type of service, never stop talking to your teens about the dangers of texting and driving.  It can be deadly.

Don't forget about distracted bicycling!  Too many teens are texting and pedaling, which is extremely dangerous too.  Read more.

Although Florida has a texting and driving bill that passed the Senate Committee, currently there is not legislation in place. For the Florida law update, click here.

Be an educated parent, you will have safer teens.

Read more.

Sue Scheff: Hang Up - Stop Texting and Driving

Eighty percent of all crashes and 65 percent of near crashes involve some type of distraction. Take cell phones for example - their use while driving can reduce the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent. Drivers who use phones are four times as likely to get into crashes. - Source: First Coast News

Using a cell phone while driving can delay a person's reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent.
Nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted or inattentive driver, and more than half a million were injured.

• Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.
• Driving while using a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent.
• Eighty percent of all crashes and 65 percent of near crashes involve some type of distraction.

Talking, texting and driving can kill the same way drinking and driving can. As more and more teens use texting as their first course of communication, they are the ones we need to stress that texting and driving can kill. Parents need to be firm on their rules of texting, talking and driving. No text is worth dying over.

Read more and watch video.