Picture Your Life. Picture How Quickly It Can Change.

DALLAS, July 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Picture this. You're driving in your neighborhood. Your phone beeps. You take your eyes off the road for just a second. What happens next...could be life-changing.

It's hard to envision a moment like that until you experience it. And we don't want that to happen. So we're bringing it to life—virtually.

As part of AT&T's It Can Wait campaign, today we launched a new virtual reality experience that simulates, in an immersive but safe 3-D setting, the potentially deadly consequences of glancing at your phone while driving.

Behind the wheel, everything can change in the blink of an eye. A post, a selfie, a text, a scroll, an email—one look is all it takes. And shockingly, research we released a few weeks ago found that 7-in-10 people engage in smartphone activities while driving!

With Samsung, Bose and Google as collaborators, we're taking the virtual reality (VR) experience on a tour of more than 100 cities before year-end. The tour setup is delivered through Samsung's Gear VR headset, powered by its Galaxy Note 4 smartphone, along with premium sound from Bose QuietComfort® 25 Acoustic Noise Cancelling® Headphones. We'll be giving away 100,000 Google Cardboard viewers at tour stops and viewing events.

People can also use Google Cardboard and their own smartphone to experience the It Can Wait Driving Simulation. They can download our free VR app and buy Cardboard at www.ItCanWait.com/VR.

In addition to the VR tour, our new ad campaign will help broaden recognition that the smartphone distracted driving problem is bigger than texting. Through slow-motion cinematography, viewers are able to see the jarring aftermath of taking their eyes off the road to glance at or tap on a smartphone while driving. The compelling content contextualizes a normal day that turns life-threatening when a driver makes an unsafe choice behind the wheel. We hope to draw in the audience by highlighting personal stories of what many do on the roads each and every day and how it can forever change a life.

The 30-second spots will be featured in national TV programming and on ItCanWait.com beginning today. Visit our YouTube page to view the 30-sec spots and the full-length feature.

This simulation and ad campaign are the latest tools helping us drive awareness, change behaviors and ultimately save lives when it comes to smartphone use behind the wheel.

Since its launch in 2010, the It Can Wait campaign has:

• Helped drive awareness of the dangers of texting while driving to about 90% for all audiences surveyed.
• Inspired more than 7 million pledges not to text and drive.
• Worked with departments of transportation in Texas, Kentucky and other states on research that suggests a correlation between It Can Wait campaign activities and a reduction in crashes.

We need your help. We need your commitment. Now more than ever we are urging you to pledge to keep your eyes on the road and not on your phone!

To learn more about the It Can Wait campaign, visit www.ItCanWait.com. And remember no post, view, email, search or text is worth a life.

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SOURCE AT&T