Action 3 News - Omaha, Nebraska News, Weather, and Sports | Teens Make Pledge, Park Phones While Driving
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Omaha, NE - Texting and driving is a dangerous distraction teens know too well. Action 3 News asks DC West student Evan Brichacek if he's guilty of texting and driving. Brichacek responds, "Yes. Sorry mom." But Benson High School has more than a hundred students making a pledge, when they get behind the wheel, they park their phones. Now, the "Text and Drive" group is taking their campaign to the streets, literally. The group is hosting an obstacle course of sorts, designed to open their peer's eyes and it's working.
Jill Humphries: "The reactions and the jaws on the floor and the oh my gosh, I really could hurt somebody."
Jill Humphries says her group designed the course to be after-school realistic, with students walking around and a phone in hand.
Luke Schult: "It was pretty hard to text and push the cart when people are walking out in front of you."
Students riding along on carts admit they feel helpless, saying this demonstration is enough to make them change their ways.
Jill Humphries: "Teens, we're not invincible. We need to understand we're not only risking our lives for a text message if we choose to do so, but risking the lives of so many others."
Katie Brichacek: "Don't text and drive. You might kill somebody."
Out of 24 groups, only seven students made it to the end of the obstacle course able to respond to a text. All seven hit pedestrians along the way and had misspelled words in their messages.
And Oprah is spear-heading an effort to quit texting in the car. You can take her "No Phone Zone" pledge on our website. Look for "News Links" in the Big Blue Box.
Reported by Kerri Stowell, kstowell@action3news.com.
