From BodyShop Business

Prom and graduation season is here. With it comes the excitement of sharing photos, videos and texts with friends and families. However, it also is accompanied by an elevated risk for teen drivers, particularly when they are sharing those photos and texts while driving.

“The collision repair industry sees firsthand the negative consequences of distracted driving and wants to help people reduce their risk of being in an accident,” said Dan Young, senior vice president of CARSTAR and chair of the NABC’s Distracted Driving Initiative. “Through the ‘It Can Wait’ campaign, we can educate drivers about the dangers of texting and driving, and engage drivers, their families and friends in putting down the phone and focusing on the road.”

The NABC’s Distracted Driving Initiative offers tips for teen drivers to reduce their driving distractions during prom and graduation season:

* Take – and share – your photos and videos before you get in the car

* Designate someone who isn’t driving to manage the GPS

* Have the driver install an app that silences incoming texts and notifications – and lets the sender know that the recipient is behind the wheel

* Consider a car service if the budget allows

Information about one of the “don’t text and drive” apps, AT&T DriveMode, which silences message alerts and auto-replies when driving to let friends and family know you can’t respond, is available at www.ItCanWait.com.

A variety of NABC “It Can Wait” collateral materials including banners, window clings, cloth cleaners, counter cards and key tags are available to NABC members and non-members and help remind teen drivers about being smarter and safer in the car.  Click HERE  and select “It Can Wait” under the Product Categories section on the left side of the page.

A recent study of teen drivers from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that distraction was a factor in nearly 6 out of 10 moderate-to-severe teen crashes, which is four times as many as official estimates based on police reports. Researchers found that drivers manipulating their cell phone (includes calling, texting or other uses) had their eyes off the road for an average of 4.1 out of the final six seconds leading up to a crash. The researchers also measured reaction times in rear-end crashes and found that teen drivers using a cell phone failed to react more than half of the time before the impact, meaning, they crashed without braking or steering.

The It Can Wait movement is making a difference, the NABC states. One in three people who’ve seen the texting while driving message say they’ve changed their driving habits. Together, advocates have raised the awareness of texting while driving to 97 percent or higher in every audience the campaign has polled.

To take the pledge and get more information, visit ItCanWait.com.