University, government and business leaders came together at last Wednesday’s eighth annual GW Safety Expo to highlight the importance of emergency preparedness and raise awareness of the dangers of texting behind the wheel.
At the University Yard event, GW President Steven Knapp joined U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson to commemorate AT&T’s “No Text on Board Pledge Day.”
The day is a part of AT&T’s national “itcanwait” campaign, which discourages texting while driving through public service announcements, social media and community events. More than 140 organizations have joined the campaign, including the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Communications Commission.
According to research cited by AT&T, drivers who text are 23 times more likely to be in a crash, and an estimated 160,000 accidents each year are caused by texting while driving.
CSI: NY actor and bestselling author Hill Harper served as event emcee, telling the audience that he based his CSI character Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on a New York trauma surgeon who has seen many young people enter the operating room because of distracted driving.
In his opening remarks, Dr. Knapp highlighted the many ways George Washington is involved in vehicular safety, including critical vehicle and driver behavior research at the National Crash Analysis Center and Center for Intelligent Systems Research, both at the university’s Virginia Science and Technology Campus.
“Our George Washington students and faculty are doing their part in research, policy and practice to reduce the number of car accidents,” he said. “We are very committed to auto safety as a part of our larger commitment to safety and security.”
Mr. Stephenson said the program at George Washington “speaks volumes” to how far the campaign has grown in the past month. More than 800,000 people around the country have taken the “No Text on Board” pledge online.
“What began a few years ago as a simple awareness campaign has turned into a movement that has a real simple message and one that we can all latch onto: don’t text and drive,” he said. “Our goal in doing this is no longer awareness, it’s to begin to change behavior, and that’s why we’ve been deliberately loud and direct with our message.”
Although 39 states have now passed laws against using phones while driving, Secretary LaHood said there was more work to be done. In 2010, more than 3,000 people were killed by distracted driving— “people who would be with us today if it hadn’t been for very dangerous behavior,” he said.
“Our young people are very vulnerable. They believe that they are invincible and that nothing can happen to them,” said Secretary LaHood. “They also are beginning drivers, so it’s very important that this message get out.”
Since 2009, the Department of Transportation has held two national distracted driving summits and released the Blueprint for Ending Distracted Driving— a national strategy to protect the nation’s roadways—last June. But there’s more work to be done, said Secretary LaHood.
“The simple fact is people, especially young people, continue to be killed and injured as a result of distracted driving, despite the fact that these deaths are 100 percent avoidable,” he said.
Noting that mobile phones are the most widely adopted human technology in history, Mr. Genachowski cautioned that these “mobile marvels” can also be deadly.
“New technological innovations like mobile communications are creating opportunities, but of course new technologies create new dangers,” he said. “Texting and driving is one of the major technologically driven challenges we face as a society.”
But technology could also provide us with the solution, he said. New tools and services, including AT&T’s Drive Mode application, are now available to limit texting and web surfing while driving. Texting and driving also needs to become as socially unacceptable as drunk driving, said Mr. Genachowski.
“This [campaign] is about effort, education and changing behaviors and social norms,” said Mr. Genachowski. “Texting and driving can wait; tackling this issue can’t.”
The program concluded the GW Safety Expo, one of the largest National Preparedness Month events in D.C. and one of the largest collegiate preparedness activities in the country.
At the expo, visitors created their own emergency preparedness kit, learned safety tips to apply at home and at work, and participated in safety activities, including a virtual texting-while-driving simulator, a fire extinguisher exercise and a crash course in self-defense. More than 25 GW departments and community partners participated, including the American Red Cross, D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, National Weather Service, D.C. Department of Health, GWU Emergency Medical Response Group and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“The annual Safety Expo exhibits GW’s commitment to safety and security at the university and highlights the support from our District, federal and nonprofit partners,” said George Nunez, director of the Office of Emergency Management.
The expo is sponsored by the Office of Emergency Management, Office of Health and Safety, GW Police Department, Office of Risk Management and the Division of Information Technology.
The university will also host a safety expo at the Virginia Science and Technology Campus Sept. 26. For additional emergency preparedness information at GW, visit Campus Advisories.