TORONTO, ONTARIO — (Marketwired) — 10/23/14 — October 19-25 is according to , a charitable organization dedicated to saving lives and the creator of the #NTDSW initiative. TELUS and have teamed up this National Teen Driver Safety Week to raise awareness of the issue and provide teens and their parents with useful tips to help avoid smartphone distractions while driving and impart positive behaviours to help stop it for good.
According to Parachute Canada, while young people only make up 13 per cent of all licensed drivers, they account for approximately of all road-related injuries and fatalities, most of which are preventable. As if being a new, young driver isn–t enough, teens are closely connected to their smartphones and all the tempting distractions that come with them.
“Everything we do at TELUS is driven by our passion for putting our customers first, and that goes far beyond customer service. Putting our customers first also means making sure they are educated about using their devices wisely,” says Brent Johnston, senior vice president, Consumer Marketing at TELUS. “As a provider of the network that powers our mobile devices, we have a profound responsibility to tackle the issue of distracted driving head-on and empower Canadians to make smart and safe smartphone decisions.”
TELUS is supporting Young Drivers of Canada, which is tackling the issue by including smartphone training in their curriculum to ensure each graduate has the knowledge they need to remove all distractions possible every time they get behind the wheel.
“While we–re doing what we can to tackle this issue through our exclusive , which enhances driving-related cognitive skills to promote safe, smart driving, there is always more work to be done,” says Angelo DiCicco, General Manager, Young Drivers of Canada of Canada. “That–s why we–re working with TELUS to help spread awareness and get teens actively engaged in putting an end to driving with smartphone distractions. We know that mobile technology isn–t going anywhere, but it–s important to ensure teens understand that driving requires their full, undivided attention.”
Below are some helpful tips from TELUS and Young Drivers of Canada for staying safe while driving with a smartphone:
TELUS wants teens to join the #beunselfie conversation online and raise awareness of the importance of staying focused behind the wheel by sharing their tips on how to stay safe on the roads. Being “unselfie” means being unselfish by making the smart, safer decision to put yourself, your passengers and others on the road first by putting your device, and all the distractions that come along with it, away while driving.
About TELUS
TELUS (TSX: T)(NYSE: TU) is Canada–s fastest-growing national telecommunications company, with $11.7 billion of annual revenue and 13.4 million customer connections, including 7.9 million wireless subscribers, 3.2 million wireline network access lines, 1.4 million Internet subscribers and 865,000 TELUS TV customers. TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services, including wireless, data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, television, entertainment and video, and is Canada–s largest healthcare IT provider.
In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed more than $350 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered 5.4 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. TELUS was honoured to be named the most outstanding philanthropic corporation globally for 2010 by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, becoming the first Canadian company to receive this prestigious international recognition.
For more information about TELUS, please visit .
About Young Drivers® of Canada
Young Drivers of Canada has been providing driver–s education to Canadians for over 40 years. During this time, Young Drivers of Canada has generated over 1.0 million graduates across Canada. As Canada–s national driver education provider, Young Drivers is committed to providing its students with the best possible driver education with the incorporation of theory and in-car teaching methods.
In addition to the guidelines set out by governmental requirements, Young Drivers of Canada is proud to be the only driving school that is ISO-9001 registered, with an upgraded ISO-9001:2010 designation. With that commitment to quality, instructors and teaching centres are evaluated on an annual basis to ensure that students enrolled in a Young Drivers course receive the best driver education available today! For more information on our courses and exclusive Cognifit® and CollisionFree® programs, visit .
Contacts:
TELUS Social and Media Relations
Donna Ramirez
(416) 320-9309
Young Drivers of Canada
Tee Marek
(226) 600-2340
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