Disclosure: This is a sponsored blog post and I was compensated by the AT&T it Can Wait 21-Day Challenge. All thoughts and opinions are my own
AT&T It Can Wait 21-Day Challenge
I held out for a long time before trading my Blackberry in for a iPhone smartphone. I always felt I need to stay one step ahead of other people, so I loved my iPhone. I purchased my new phone as a Christmas gift to myself a few years ago. The “kids” immediately loaded their names and numbers into my contacts and we started texting. I was hooked right away. Swiping that bright flat screen and texting without a flip and a keyboard is awesome.
Fortunately for the other drivers that share the roads with me that awesomeness didn’t last too long. I reached for the phone too many times to answer a text while in the car. I found myself sitting at stop signs texting while cars lined up behind me and honked in annoyance. A few times I actually texted while driving and would find myself wandering over the yellow line.
My wakeup call came when a truck wandered head on into my lane. I could see that the driver was texting. He didn’t see me. I slammed on my horn and swerved into the bike lane to avoid being crushed by the truck. Both of us were clearly shaken. I was so thankful there wasn’t a cyclist on the road. That was the day I decided to always put my phone out of reach while driving.
I had been asked to participate in the AT&T It Can Wait 21-Day Challenge by a friend. I didn’t think about it much until the day that scared me. So I looked into the program to see what it was all about. We have all seen 21 day challenges for things like losing weight or tracking fitness. It seems that 21 days is the magic number for reaching a goal. AT&T has embraced this and launched a safe driving program targeted at smartphone users asking them to pledge not to engage in “distracted driving”. AT&T hopes to reach 16 million pledges by the end of 2016.
Statistically, more than half of the drivers who own smartphones use them while driving alone. About half that many are inclined to use their smartphones when there are passengers with them. The It Can Wait program’s goal is to continue to significantly reduce the number of people practicing distracted driving whether alone or with passengers.
The AT&T It Can Wait 21-Day Challenge is now in its 6th year. Recent research of the power of the pledge has shown that nearly 50% of participants have stopped using their smartphones while driving, have encouraged others to stop using their smartphones while driving, or have allowed a passenger to operate their smartphone for them while driving. Nearly 30% of passengers have asked drivers not to use their smartphones while driving.
Participating in the program has inspired millions of downloads of the free AT&T DriveMode App, minimizing distractions while driving to help keep eyes on the road. The app is available for download at Google Play and iTunes.
Please join me now and take the pledge by clicking on Your text to link…. Please share your progress on your social channels using #ItCanWait for an opportunity to win Google Cardboard or It Can Wait swag.