SPJ initiates 'no texting' pledge

A little more than one year ago, Brittiany Phillips was driving from her mother’s house to her brother’s in Muncie, Indiana, when her car drifted across traffic lanes and hit a tree. Minutes before the fatal accident, Phillips sent and received text messages, according to Delaware County police.

Phillips, who was an architecture student in the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, was on track to graduate in 2010. She died March 21, 2009.

Every year, 500,000 people are maimed or paralyzed and 6,000 are killed because someone is talking on the phone or texting while driving, said Jathan Fink, a fourth-year journalism student.

Fink, who is also the president of the university’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, initiated the Turn UC Red campaign through SPJ. The campaign is inspired by Oprah Winfrey’s movement to get people off of their phones when they’re behind the wheel.

Turn UC Red — online at turnucred.com — is a university-wide initiative to increase awareness of distracted driving — talking, texting, e-mailing or browsing the Internet, for example.

“Ultimately we would love to see people stop using their phones behind the wheel altogether, but at the very least, we’re asking that they stop texting and e-mailing while driving,” Fink said.

As of press time, 56 people — including students, faculty and staff — have signed
the pledge.

“I was one of those people who thought I was fine juggling a phone conversation while maneuvering through traffic,” Fink said. “But when I almost swerved into an opposing lane of traffic because I dropped my phone, I realized just how dangerous it was and how foolhardy I had been.”

Debbie Brawn, the director of programs and administration in the University Honors Program, signed the pledge when Fink sent her an e-mail asking if the Honors Program would support Turn UC Red.

“It is difficult to not talk on the phone,” Brawn said. “I have never texted or e-mailed while driving, however, so that part has been very easy.”

The university community reponse has been positive, Fink said.

“When it comes to students,” Fink said, “they sign up almost as soon as I tell them about it … One woman told me she didn’t take pledges lightly. Still, she wanted to think about it and promised to let me know as soon as she can commit. In truth, I was impressed by her reaction because I want people to really make a concerted effort to stay off their phones while they drive, or, at the very least, to stop texting and e-mailing.”

Although there are fewer than 60 pledges, organizers and supporters hope more university community members will get on board.

“Ohio currently has no law to ban hand-held devices and texting, and, until they do, my hope is that students and faculty will continue to spread the word and will band together to stop these senseless deaths,” Fink said. “Sometimes all it takes to save someone’s life is to speak up and share some knowledge.”