Last Friday, an event was held in Seattle which sought to get across to citizens the dangers posed by texting at the wheel.  The presentation, which was put together by AT & T and featured the assistance of the Washington State Patrol and a local radio station, was intended to spread awareness about the It Can Wait campaign, which attempts to get drivers around the country to sign a pledge stating that they’ll never again text and drive at the same time.  The hope was that 500 or more people would drop by the Northgate Mall in order to affix their signatures to the ever-growing pledge.  The WSP had a vehicle involved in a texting-based crash on hand, and a member of the aforementioned radio station was also there to relate her own eye-opening experience with texting and driving.

Click here for more about the effort.

Celebrities are teaming up with automakers and telecommunications companies in order to get teens to recognize the dangers of texting and driving.  The effort, which hails from Sprint, Toyota, and Dosomething.org, will find celebrities appearing in Public Service Announcements promoting Thumb Wars.  Teens who sign up at the Dosomething website will be able to receive a pair of thumb socks in the mail that contain an anti-texting and driving message.  This is the third year that the campaign has been put forth, and the efforts are bearing fruit.  230,000 teens received thumb socks last year, and a survey suggests that teenagers who received the anti-texting socks were far less likely to engage in texting at the wheel.

Click here for more about the campaign.

Concerned about a rash of pedestrian accidents, officials with the city of Eureka are attempting to lock down funding for a safety campaign.  Officials point to California Office of Traffic Safety statistics which suggest that, given its size, Eureka has the highest bicycle and pedestrian injurious and fatal crash rates in the entire state.  If grant money can be obtained, the city will hire a consultant whose duty it will be to put together a campaign that seeks to spread awareness and cut down on accidents throughout the city.  Such an initiative has drawn the support of the local police department and a councilwoman on the Transportation Safety Commission.

For more about the campaign, click here.

A teacher from Shelton, Washington is attempting to spread the word about the importance of always refraining from texting at the wheel.  She became an advocate for safety after her own actions led to a texting and driving accident in 2009.  Although the pedestrian victim lived, he suffered serious brain damage.  Feeling guilty about her role in the incident, the teacher has been sharing her experience in public with all those who will listen.  Not only does she warn students in her own classroom, but she acts as a speaker at other schools in the Shelton-area.  She seeks to place a particular emphasis on getting teens to put down their phones when at the wheel, and her students and other safety advocates have praised her efforts in turning her negative experience into a positive for the community.

Click here for more about her experience.

A teenager from Little Rock, Arkansas is taking it upon herself to raise awareness about the dangers of texting and driving.  The 15-year old has used her own money to put together a safety campaign going by the moniker “Survive:  Don’t Text and Drive.”  The campaign can be found on a number of mediums and has earned the thumbs-up from local safety advocates, media organizations, and law enforcement officials.  Billboards and television commercials explain the dangers of distraction and ask teens to pledge never to text, and the girl responsible has even traveled to local school to get elementary students more involved.  At the end of that presentation, kids release balloons that echo the campaign’s message.

For more about her efforts, click here.

This past Wednesday, cyclists across the country took part in the annual Ride of Silence, which seeks to raise awareness about the importance of recognizing cyclists’ right to the road.  100 persons on bikes descended on the Pasadena area to take part in the event.  Participants were clad in black and red armbands, the former to signify the loss of a loved one hit by a vehicle and the latter standing for that participant being in an accident themselves.  Half of those who showed up for the event had reportedly been struck in some way.  The coordinator of the Ride of Silence explained that 25 cyclists have already been killed in Southern California this year.  The Pasadena version of the event began in 2005.

For more about the ride, click here.

Starting Friday and lasting for two weeks, law enforcement agencies throughout Washington will be taking part in an enforcement campaign targeting drivers committing a couple specific violations.  The “Click It or Ticket” campaign, which is set to run until June 2, will find county and city law enforcement officials cracking down not just on drivers who neglect to wear their seatbelts but on those drivers who insist on using their cellphones at the wheel.  The entire campaign is designed to to work in conjunction with Target Zero, which seeks to completely eliminate road fatalities and catastrophic injuries in the state in the next 17 years.  The extra patrols last year enabled officers to hand out 3,171 citations for seatbelt neglect and more than 1,000 tickets for cellphone usage.

For more about the campaign, click here.

Two safety organizations have partnered to get employers to do more to limit a workers’ exposure to the types of circumstances which could lead to a dangerous fall.  The fall prevention campaign has been (re)launched by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration with the goal of getting employers to do a better job training their workers to avoid falls and installing the equipment necessary to mitigate many of the most common threats.  The issue has reportedly become particularly important thanks to the improvement of the economy, which heralds an uptick in construction and thus exposes more people to falls.  Estimates peg falls as accounting for 35% of fatalities in the private construction industry.

For more information, follow this link.

A report out of Missouri explains the steps that states and cities across the country are taking in order to reduce the prevalence of distracted driving.  In West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, police held a safety awareness night where teens in the area could win anti-distraction devices.  Events like these are combined with an ongoing awareness campaign and enforcement efforts.  In Missouri, where text messaging is still legal among those over the age of 21, a campaign called Gone Too Soon focuses on raising awareness about numerous dangerous activities, including drunk driving, failure to use a seat belt, and of course, distraction.  The state also has three cellphone bans waiting in the wings, but so much time has passed since they were introduced that they likely won’t be passed this year.

Follow the link to learn more about these states’ efforts.

A pedestrian safety campaign recently enacted in and around Washington D.C. has some people complaining about the graphic nature of the ads.  The campaign features a series of images emblazoned upon the sides of local buses.  They feature a photo of a face that has a tire track splashed across it.  Phrases found near the image explain that pedestrians can’t rely on airbags and that a person on foot can’t be fixed in a body shop.  Street Smart put together the ad campaign, and they believe that the eye-opening nature of the ads is essential to getting drivers and pedestrians to place more attention on safety.  They hope the ads can curtail the estimated 2,600 injuries and 90 fatalities that occur in D.C. every year.

For more information about the campaign, follow this link.

Zombies seem to be all the rage nowadays, so it makes a certain sort of sense that safety officials would attempt to take advantage of this trend to raise awareness about the dangers of texting and driving.  The California Office of Traffic Safety is warning drivers across the state that using a cellphone at the wheel is akin to turning oneself into a zombie.  The thinking is that the brain function available to focus on the road is reduced with talking or texting and makes one inattentive to their environment, much like a zombie.  It’s a unique way to bring awareness to April’s distinction of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.  To avoiding contract the zombie virus, drivers are being asked to keep their phones out of sight while driving to avoid temptation and to create a message telling incoming callers that you’ll call back when you reach your destination.

Click here to learn more.

Perhaps the best way to curb texting while driving is to remind drivers about the dangers when they stop by their local Subway to pick up a $5 Footlong.  That seems to be the hope of the Department of Public Safety in the state of South Carolina, as they have partnered with the sandwich giant in order to raise awareness about the issue among area teens.  W8 2 TXT will visit numerous schools throughout South Carolina to educate students about the importance of refraining from texting behind the wheel.  Participants in the event have the option of taking a pledge never to text while their vehicle is in motion, at which point they’ll be given a wristband to commemorate their decision.

To learn more, follow this link.

Just because one is great at texting doesn’t mean that they should carry those skills behind the wheel.  That seems to be the message being put forth by the L.G. US National Texting Champion as part of a campaign from the Department of Transportation and the Wisconsin State Patrol, among other agencies.  The fastest texter in the country will be featured in a commercial that attempts to dissuade drivers from engaging in texting at the wheel, and he also planned to be on hand today at Three Lakes High School in Wisconsin to further raise awareness about the dangers of texting while driving.  He hopes that teens will sign the “It Can Wait” pledge gaining ground across the entire country.

For more information, follow this link.

A public service announcement from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation attempts to compare motorcycles with airplanes in a bid to get riders more focused on safety.  In it, a motorcycle enthusiast/fighter pilot trainer explains the commonalities between the two methods of transportation.  Both require the operator to put on adequate safety gear every time they get ready to start their journey, they each require intensive training, and having knowledge of your immediate environment at all times is absolutely essential whether on a plane or a motorcycle.  The MSF is also offering a number of safety tips to riders.  They explain that drugs and alcohol have no place in motorcycle riding, nor does a lack of safety gear.

Click here for more about the PSA.

A new report looks at the impact that AT & T’s efforts to curb distracted driving have had in Illinois.  The company offers an app called DriveMode which allows an individual to set an automatic message to respond to any incoming communications which occur while the phone’s owner is at the wheel.  They have also set up a pledge that concerned individuals can sign basically vowing never to engage in texting while driving so long as they live.  A reporter recently rode with the state’s Lieutenant Governor, someone who herself has taken the pledge and downloaded DriveMode.  The reporter saw firsthand how incoming messages were distributed to the phone once the vehicle came to a halt.

Click here to learn more.

This Saturday will find the Daytona International Speedway playing host to the DRIVE4COPD 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race, and the Department of Transportation of the state of Florida hopes to take advantage of the event to raise awareness about the importance of pedestrian and bicyclist safety.  In an effort to promote their Alert Today Alive Tomorrow safety campaign, the agency has paid nearly $175,000 in order to sponsor one of the cars taking part in the race.  The campaign is designed to help improve Florida’s standing as the most dangerous place in the country for persons on foot (or bike).  An estimated ten pedestrians are fatally injured every single week in the state because they were hit by a vehicle, and efforts like this aim to change that.

For more information, follow this link.

Now here’s an interesting way to get citizens to care more about pedestrian safety.  In Calcutta, India, an awareness campaign utilizing the iconic Abbey Road album cover has been launched.  The cover, which features the four members of the Beatles traversing an intersection via a crosswalk, will be seen in billboards throughout the area.    Also attached to the image will be a message stating, “If they can, why can’t you?”  This is reportedly the latest in a series of creative campaigns put forth by police and safety officials.  Two years ago, a campaign was held in which music would play at intersections whenever a traffic light would switch over to red.

For more information, follow this link.

Washington D.C. recently launched a campaign known as Street Smart, which aims to promote pedestrian safety during those times of the years when the days are the shortest.  The operation is meant to curb the estimated 89 fatalities and 2,600 injuries that occur among cyclists and people on foot around the area every single year.  Law enforcement officials are tasked with stepping up their efforts to make sure pedestrians are obeying the necessary laws, and an educational component exists in the form of multimedia ads and documents provided to the public which provide ample information about safety.  A member of the Montgomery County DOT emphasized that increasing visibility is perhaps the most important measure that can improve safety.

Follow this link for more about Street Smart.

Watch for Me NC continues to gain supporters throughout North Carolina, as now comes word that the police department of Duke University will be participating in the campaign.  Police will be roaming crosswalks across campus in a bid to educate students about the importance of crossing at opportune times in areas where it’s safe to do so.  Citations will not be issued, but officers will stop pedestrian violators to warn them about the consequences of their actions.

Click here for more about the campaign.

A new public awareness campaign is trying to end distracted driving, a problem plaguing all roadways.  DONT, or“drive only, never text,” is the name of the initiative, which was created by Windsor, Ontario’s Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital, Southland Insurance, Essex County, and more.  The campaign, which began in earnest on September 26, will attempt to reach younger drivers through a combination of social media and unique marketing avenues like flash mobs.

Click here to learn more about the effort.