*By Chloe Aiello* By now, most drivers know that using a mobile device at the wheel is dangerous ー but many people do it anyway. And now that there are more mobility options than ever ー including the Silicon Valley darling e-scooters ー the stakes of a quick text while driving or riding are even higher. That's why AT&T($T) and Bird teamed up on a campaign to educate smartphone users about the dangers of distracted driving ー and scooter riding. "Our work is never done, and we are going to continue to collaborate with anybody who shares our goals on safe-driving and any form of transportation. Bird was a great partner in that regard," AT&T's assistant vice president of corporate brand marketing, Ryan Luckey, told Cheddar on Thursday. The two teamed up on a social-friendly spot, intended to air on online video and on social media platforms. It charts the dangers of "scoot\[ing\] distracted," and feeds into AT&T's 8-year-old "It Can Wait" campaign. The goal of the spot and the campaign, Luckey said, goes beyond awareness. "Our data's telling us that about 87 percent of people continue to drive distracted," he said. "We hope ten years from now that number is a lot lower ... We are looking back at a time where we were saying, 'What were we thinking using our devices and driving?'" The statistic he's referencing mirrors one from [a 2017 study by analytics firm Zendrive](http://blog.zendrive.com/distracted-driving/), which found that drivers use their phones on an estimated 88 out of 100 trips and are distracted for about 3.5 minutes of every hour spent driving. It's a chilling thought, considering a distraction as brief as two seconds [has been found to](https://today.oregonstate.edu/archives/2015/mar/%E2%80%9Cdistracted-driving%E2%80%9D-all-time-high-new-approaches-needed) increase the risk of an accident. And while deaths involving distracted drivers [dipped slightly from 2015 to 2016,](https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/distracted_driving/index.html) the last year for which data is available, they still account for about 9 percent of total accidents, [according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration](https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812517). The myriad of smartphone applications and mobility options, including e-scooters, ride hailing, bike-sharing and, of course, driving, certainly doesn't help. Rather, it creates new and different opportunities for distractions. "What used to be texting and driving in teenagers has now become a much larger universe of distracted driving at AT&T," Luckey said. But Luckey said he has high hopes for reducing distracted driving in the future, and he's confident Bird is a great partner in the effort. "I think all of us have a vested interest in the responsible use of our products, for AT&T, it's devices and our network, for Bird, it's the responsible use of their scooters," Luckey said. "This is not a one-time thing we do around just a holiday weekend when rider usage is up on an increase. What we need is sustained commitment over the long-term, and a recognition that work is never done." For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/at-and-t-and-bird-warn-against-texting-while-scooting).
