The program also addresses a summary of the findings of a study carried out by the Automobile Association of America (AAA), which ranks the most common distractions with which drivers most contend. Eating, drinking, talking to other passengers, adjusting radio controls, applying make-up, and reading were among the most prevalent distractive behaviors cited in the study. Cell phones ranked eighth on a list that included nine distractions.

Cingular Wireless has also developed a student education program called “Be Sensible: Don’t Drive Yourself to Distraction.” “It is a comprehensive teen driver education program, including a video, teacher’s guide,and classroom activities,” says Tim Klein,Vice President of Corporate Communications for the Atlanta-based Cingular. “We have provided this program free to more than 18,000 high schools and driving schools since 2002. What’s more, 99 percent of the teachers who used the program say they plan to use it again.”

In the past four years, more than 11 million students have seen the program, which Cingular is now updating. The program emphasizes Cingular’s position that novice drivers should not use a wireless phone while driving, unless there is an emergency. A video also discusses other common distractions and how to manage them. The updated program includes a new documentary-style video in which teens describe accidents they have had as a result of driving while distracted.

According to Klein, the teen driving program is part of Cingular’s longstanding Be
Sensible campaign, developed to educate the public about using wireless phones safely and courteously. The safety component of the program focuses largely on teens, because company officials decided that people learning to drive today have special educational needs.

Even smaller companies are developing distracted driving educational programs. Up until two years ago, Dobson Cellular Systems in Oklahoma City sponsored a Cellular One driver on the NASCAR circuit. During that period, as cell phones became important in the distracted driver debates, Dobson Cellular shot an interactive video hosted by its NASCAR driver. Called Cellular One’s Great American Driving Test, students took a test, scored it, and then listened to safety tips for using wireless phones in the car.

“About 75,000 students saw the video,” says Craig Davis, Dobson Cellular’s public relations manager. “We sent it to high schools, and they showed it in assemblies and in driver’s education courses.”

The program ended when the firm’s NASCAR sponsorship ended, but Davis says the company is currently working up another video for young drivers from another angle.