Victorino Preaches 'Texting Can Wait' To Students
PERKASIE, Pa. (CBS3) - The Philadelphia Phillies' Flyin' Hawaiian was up early Wednesday to make a pitch to local students. Shane Victorino wants the young people to pay attention behind the wheel and he took his message to the road.
Victorino joined AT&T to launch a new campaign to raise awareness about the risks of texting and driving.
As a part of the initiative, area high school students were able to enter a contest. The winner would get the chance to bring "Shane to School" for a day. There were thousands of entries and Pennridge High School Sophomore Rachel Brennan won.
So on Wednesday, Brennan brought Victorino to her school to deliver the "Texting can wait" message to her classmates.
"They probably have known people that have gotten into accidents while texting and the results and consequences. I think this is for a very good cause," Brennan said.
At Pennridge, Victorino spent about an hour with the students reminding them texting is not that important and texting can, in fact, wait.
"When AT&T came out with the campaign and they asked me to do it, I said I'd be the first to sign up," Victorino said.
The timely message was coincidentally delivered the same week State Farm released a disturbing study. Its survey of about 700 students found that only about 35 percent of the teens believed that the consequences of texting while driving was just as severe as drunk driving.
Victorino added, "The whole thing out of this is to help these kids realize it's not safe to text and drive. They need to realize it and hopefully someone like me can make an impact."
At the end of his visit, Victorino led more than 3,000 students in signing a "Don't Text and Drive" banner, and pledged not to text and drive.
