Texting and Driving: "It Can Wait"

STEPHENSON, VA- Many of the Driver's Education and Health II students at Sherando High School don't yet have a driver's license.

"I have my learner's permit," says student Jacob Pembelton. "I'm going to get my drivers license in two and half weeks."

Texting is another distraction they don't need while learning to drive.

"I drive a truck, so it's kind of hard to keep it on the road in general," Pembelton says. "It would be ten times harder to drive texting than without texting."

AT&T's "It Can Wait" program is showing the students the deadly impact of texting and driving. Students were put in a driving simulator with a cell phone. Many struggled as they tried to send a text and drive safely.

"I wasn't sure if I should check the text or not," says student Kayla Brown. "But I decided to and I ended up crashing."

"It was pretty difficult," Pembelton says. "Half the time, the texts that I sent on the simulator wasn't what I meant to say and while doing that I didn't stay in the lane."

The students signed a pledge not to text while driving. The campaign gave out plastic rings to go on the student's thumbs. They're meant to serve as a reminder that they shouldn't text while driving. The students also watched a video of teens who were either crippled or killed because of texting and driving.

"I think the video that they're showing gives real life examples," says Michael Smith, Assistant Principal at Sherando High. "That's really going to impact them."

Brown says some of her friends were killed last year because they were texting and driving.

"When I was watching the video I was thinking about my friend," says Brown.

It's a message that hits home for some as a warning and a plea that, "It Can Wait."