Unless you are living
under a rock, it would be hard to miss out on all of the anti texting and
driving campaigning that has been going on. There have been multiple public
service announcements on TV, multiple articles (and blogs) written and most
states (39 total) have outlawed the practice. Recently, and I think
importantly, the heads of the major telecommunications companies have been
speaking out. Specifically, Randall Stephenson, the CEO of AT&T discussed
the subject at the outset of a speech in front of investors at a conference on
the state of the telecommunications business.
The New York
Times reported that Stephenson began his speech before hundreds of
people by stating that there must be a change regarding the use of phones in
cars. “the Smartphone is a product we sell
and it’s being used inappropriately. We have got to drive behavior.” He
went on to state that since he has gone public on this issue he has had to curb
his own practice of using the phone in the car. “When I went public, I
told my wife: ‘You know what this means? I can no longer touch this iPhone or BlackBerry in the car.’ ” He puts his
devices in a cup holder and silences them. “It was a habit I had to break.”
This is
a small step but still meaningful. It must be pointed out the AT&T and
other cell phone companies only recently stopped their lobby against the
curbing of cell phone use in cars. This was a significant move on these
companies part, but real progress will take place when they actually put their
money where their mouth is and join the lobby towards approving cell phone and
driving laws.
If you
or someone you love has been injured in a Chicago car accident or Chicago truckaccident, then call Chicago personal injury attorney, Aaron Bryant, for a freeconsultation at 312-588-3384 or go to the firm website at www.blgchicago.com.