During Hofstra’s annual P.R.I.D.E. week program, the Office
of Off-Campus Living & Commuting student services asked the student body to
make a pledge to not text and drive. Over 100 students took the pledge not to
text and drive.
The No Phone Zone Pledge reads as
follows:
-
I will not text while I am driving
-
I will promise to use hands-free calling if I
need to speak on the phone while I am driving.
-
I will pull over to the side of the road if I
need to text.
-
I pledge to make a difference.
Every student that took the pledge received a Hofstra No
Texting thumb band to act as a reminder not to text while operating a motor
vehicle.
“Stay alive, don’t text and drive” was the slogan used to
peak student’s interest in stopping at the table set up in the Atrium in the
Mack Student center for an hour and a half. Students were engaged once they
found out more about the risks of texting while driving.
With the longest eyes-off-the-road time of all distracted
driving activities, text messaging makes a car crash up to 23 times more likely
than any other activity.
77% of young adults are very or somewhat confident that they
can safety text while driving. 55% of young adult drivers claim it’s easy to
text while they drive.
These facts and more were a somber reminder for students to
take the “No Texting While Driving” pledge.
Many students were eager to sign up, expressing how
deplorable they think texting and driving is, while others were more hesitant,
embarrassed to admit how frequently they text and drive.
The Hofstra No Texting thumb band will remind students of
the pledge they took during this P.R.I.D.E. week, and hopefully encourage them
to put the phone down while they are driving.
Written by: Cristina Pappadake-Gomez
Graduate Assistant
Office of Off-Campus Living & Commuting Student Services
yes precaution is better than Cure
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