LoJack Corporation, a provider of vehicle theft recovery and advanced fleet management systems, announced a global safe driving campaign that is dedicated to improving the safety of every driver on the road today. To kick off the campaign, LoJack will create and distribute a range of interactive educational tools and creative content like infographics and e-booklets to the public as well as the company’s long-term partners in law enforcement and with automotive dealerships throughout the United States.
“We at LoJack recognize that distracted driving has become a nationwide epidemic on our roads and highways,” said Randy L. Ortiz, CEO and President of LoJack. “Almost daily we learn of another tragic death caused by distracted driving. We all need to do more to address this tremendous challenge by better managing and protecting our family fleets and the loved ones who operate those vehicles.”
To further raise awareness on the safe driving issue, LoJack has also introduced an educational infographic, titled “Eyes on the Road: The Challenges of Safe Driving,” which highlights more than 25 real and tangible distractions that a driver might encounter on any given day – from cell phone use and pets in the front seat to erratic pedestrian behavior and children demanding a driver’s attention.
Additionally, LoJack has created an educational e-booklet titled “Teen Smarts,” that also provides drivers with an abundance of information on the safe driving topic, including an overview of the problem, statistics around fatalities and types of distractions, and overall tips for driving more safely on the roads and highways today.
As another part of the new safe driving campaign, LoJack has released the findings of a new annual distracted driving survey, which was conducted recently at the 2013 Massachusetts Teen Distracted Driving Leadership Summit in Boston. More than 150 students were surveyed and results revealed that approximately 50 percent of teens use their cell phone while driving, both to talk and text. Also of note is that 46 percent of teenagers surveyed believe that distracted driving is a serious issue that needs to be addressed immediately. Additionally, 91 percent of students surveyed support initiatives to ban cell phone use during driving and 89 percent support the development and use of technology to help curb distracted driving.
Attendees and participants included 240 high school students, local business leaders, leadership from Safe Roads Alliance and the National Organization of Youth Safety. Also attending were survivors of distracted driving accidents, families of victims, AT&T and LoJack representatives. These survey results support recent findings from AAA that 660,000 drivers are using cell phones while driving, at any given moment during the day – a particularly poignant statistic considering drivers who text while driving are 23 times more likely (according to statistics from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute that were featured in a recent AT&T infographic ) to be in, or near, a crash.
For more information about the Massachusetts Distracted Driving Summit, visit sites.google.com/site/massdistracteddrivingsummit.
