AT&T on Thursday announced the expansion of its It Can Wait campaign to Mexico, calling on drivers there to keep their eyes on the road instead of their phone after a survey found that a shocking 90 percent of urban drivers in Mexico admitted to partaking in smartphone-related activities while driving.
Among distracted drivers, the carrier’s study found that 87 use their phone for messaging while on the road, while 83 percent use the app WhatsApp, 60 percent use email, 56 percent use Facebook and 50 percent use their device for web browsing. Nearly a quarter of survey respondents admitted to engaging in activities on their smartphone while driving “all the time.”
“No post, glance, email, search or text is worth a life,” said AT&T Mexico’s chief executive officer Thaddeus Arroyo. “Drivers who are paying more attention to their cell phones than the traffic around them are a leading cause of accidents and deaths in Mexico. We’re urging everyone to put down their phones when they’re behind the wheel.”
According to an AT&T release, the new initative – called Puede Esperar in Spanish – will share the It Can Wait message on billboards in Mexico City and through municipal events in 16 towns.
The original It Can Wait campaign was launched in the United States in 2010, prompting more than 7 million individuals to sign pledges stating they will not use smartphones while driving.
Filed Under: Carriers
