BMW of North America announced a national campaign called ‘Don’t Text and Drive’ and designed to raise awareness of the distracted driving dangers.

The campaign, which tagline is ‘Your Family’s Safety is in Your Hands. When the Engine Starts, The Texting Stops,’ includes television, print, online and radio channels. It starts in early June and runs throughout the year.

«Distracted driving is an epidemic in America, and it has deadly consequences for thousands of people on our roads each year,» says U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Statistics proves his words by shocking numbers. Nearly 87 percent of teen drivers admit to texting while behind the wheel. These research results provided BMW with motivation to develop the actions the company is now announcing. Jim O’Donnell, CEO, BMW of North America, comments “We developed this campaign to be impactful in hopes of evoking emotion and conveying the serious dangers of distracted driving and its potential consequences.”

In fact, the problem of distracted driving of any kind, especially texting, that costs thousands of lives every year in U.S., has been recently depicted by many American companies and celebrities from AT&T to Justin Bieber. In behalf of mobile services, last year AT&T came up with the campaign: ‘Txting & Driving: It Can Wait.’ Today BMW, one of the biggest car manufacturers, joined the fight to educate people about the dangers of such a behavior.

Hopefully, BMW’s initiative will produce desirable results in grabbing attention of teens by effective communication. To support it, along with advertising campaign, The Don’t Txt & Drive message will be incorporated in more than 100 teen driving schools conducted across the United States this year by the BMW Car Club of America Foundation. BMW dealerships will feature printed materials, hangtags and static cling decals for display in vehicles and showrooms throughout the summer.