What a great news morning for someone like me who has been passionate about the need to increase driving safety by limiting text messaging while driving. Long time readers of this blog will recall that I have previously criticized the cellular industry for not getting out front to promote safety by their network users. Here’s a link to all of my past blogs on this issue: text messaging and other driving dangers.

This morning I heard that AT&T has finally answered the challenge I issued twice last fall (Good News and Bad News for Safe Driving; Text Messaging While Driving: Corporate Responsibility Increasing as Ford Joins Verizon in Supporting Federal Legislation Banning Texting While Driving) to join Ford and Verizon to promote driving safety for their text message customers. Way to go AT&T. Here’s the promo for the campaign:

AT&T logo

Click here to view the AT&T 15 second spot that is a very effective ad  they are running as part of this campaign.

The AT&T campaign wasn’t the only good news. The city of Allentown, Pennsylvania has just enacted a cell phone ban for drivers. The new law will go into effect on March 19th with the first month of enforcement resulting only in “warnings”. The fines will range between $150 and $300. The good news is that this law makes using a cell phone a “primary offense.” That means that the police can pull you over just for breaking this law. The law also applies to skateboards, in-line skaters, and bicyclists.

I’m glad that the cities in Pennsylvania are taking leadership roles in passing similar laws. We now have laws like this in Philadelphia, Erie, and Harrisburg. Pittsburgh, Scranton, what about you?