AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson has become a vocal anti-texting-while-driving advocate, delivering that message at investor conferences, shareholder meetings and club meetings, according to The New York Times.
The paper, in a story headlined “AT&T Chief Speaks Out On Texting At The Wheel,” wrote about Stephenson last week. The article pointed out that the telco executive has a personal interest in the issue because someone “close to him” got into an accident while texting.
As Stephenson explained to The Times, AT&T sells smartphones, which are being used “inappropriately.” But while the CEO wants AT&T to be more aggressive about championing public awareness of the dangers of distracted driving, he’s not in favor of laws that ban motorists from texting, according to The Times.
Yet experts say that tough anti-texting laws, not mere public service campaigns, are the real deterrent when it comes to stopping drivers from using their cellphone keyboards behind the wheel, The Times reported. Right now, 39 states ban texting while driving.
The article also talked about an interesting new app. At the end of the month AT&T is going roll out a free updated version of an app for Blackberry and Android that will won’t permit texting on a cellphone that’s traveling over 25 miles an hour, according to The Times. But at this time, there isn’t such as app for iPhones.