Sage Hill School participated in national It Can Wait Day on Sept. 19  by welcoming AT&T representative Wayne Harvey on campus.

Harvey spoke about the dangers of texting and driving and encouraged students to sign a pledge to put their phones away while on the road.

“Harvey helped me to connect to It Can Wait, which is a national organization to spread the word about the harmful effects of texting and driving,” said Mer Connolly-Freund, wellness program coordinator at Sage. “My job is to get our students and community members to think about the choices and decisions they make before problems occur.”

In addition to urging students to sign a no-texting pledge, Harvey showed the Sage Hill community AT&T DriveMode, a free application for all AT&T customers. The applications automatically turns on and off based on your vehicle’s speed and immediately sends calls to voicemail and replies to text messages with an automated response.

“I’ve become aware of how many people are affected by car accidents related to texting. It’s become harder and harder for drivers to just keep their eyes on the road. I think that education is key, and the new apps that Verizon and AT&T have are really good at helping drivers keep their eyes on the road and therefore keep people safe,” Connolly said.

Many students share the same opinion, believing that texting while driving simply isn’t worth the risk.

“Texting can always wait,” sophomore Komal Patel said. “The preservation of human lives is more important.”

Test a 3-D simulator of DriveMode.