AT&T And Ohio Department Of Public Safety Offer Video Challenge On Dangers Of Distracted Driving

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T* and the Ohio Department of Public Safety invite Ohio high school students to submit ideas for video messages discouraging smartphone distractions behind the wheel. Students may send written video scripts or concepts to ODPS in December and January for the It Can Wait/Safer Ohio Video Challenge. Several students will have their ideas selected for production in 2016.

"All of us are put at risk by distracted driving on our roads," said ODPS Director John Born. "Ohio teens can put their own creativity to work to remind all drivers how real the dangers are."

"I'm very concerned about distracted driving. I feel it's one of the most dangerous problems on our roadways," said State Senator Jim Hughes. "Ohio high school students are ideal creators of video messages that will be heard loud and clear by their peers and adults alike."

New research shows that 7-in-10 people engage in smartphone activities while driving.** People are texting, emailing, posting to social media and more from behind the wheel.

"When we launched It Can Wait five years ago, we pleaded with people to realize that no text is worth a life," said AT&T Ohio President Adam Grzybicki. "Drivers are now engaged in even more smartphone activities. For the sake of you and those around you, please keep your eyes on the road, not on your phone."

Ohio high school students can send a video script or description up to 700 words to [email protected] between December 1 and January 31. AT&T and ODPS will select up to six and The Ohio Channel will produce these for ODPS. Students who submit a selected idea will receive a prize package including a wireless tablet from AT&T. Those who want to submit a video idea can find guidelines at http://www.publicsafety.ohio.gov/links/odps15videochallenge.pdf.

It Can Wait is a national movement urging drivers to visit www.ItCanWait.com. They can pledge to keep their eyes on the road, not on their phone on the site. Then, they can share their pledge via Twitter (#ItCanWait) and Facebook. The campaign started by focusing on not texting and driving. It has now expanded to the broader dangers of smartphone use behind the wheel. Since its launch in 2010, it has:

• Helped drive awareness of the dangers of texting while driving to about 90 percent for all audiences surveyed
• Inspired more than 7 million pledges not to text and drive
• Worked with departments of transportation in Texas, Kentucky and other states on research that suggests a correlation between It Can Wait campaign activities and a reduction in crashes

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.
**Research commissioned by AT&T and conducted by Braun Research. Polled 2,067 people in the U.S. aged 16-65 who use their smartphone and drive at least once a day. Additional information available here.

About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) helps millions around the globe connect with leading entertainment, mobile, high speed Internet and voice services. We're the world's largest provider of pay TV. We have TV customers in the U.S. and 11 Latin American countries. In the U.S., our wireless network has the nation's strongest 4G LTE signal and most reliable 4G LTE. We offer the best global coverage of any U.S. wireless provider*. And we help businesses worldwide serve their customers better with our mobility and highly secure cloud solutions.

Additional information about AT&T products and services is available at http://about.att.com. Follow our news on Twitter at @ATT, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/att and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/att.

© 2015 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the Globe logo and other marks are trademarks and service marks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Signal strength and reliability claims based on nationwide carriers' 4G LTE. Signal strength claim based ONLY on avg. 4G LTE signal strength. 4G LTE not available everywhere.

*Global coverage claim based on offering discounted voice and data roaming; LTE roaming; voice roaming; and world-capable smartphone and tablets in more countries than any other U.S. based carrier. International service required.  Coverage not available in all areas. Coverage may vary per country and be limited/restricted in some countries.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120612/DA23287LOGO

SOURCE AT&T