The wireless community is this week promoting the importance of safe use of wireless phones and public-safety uses of wireless, in addition to celebrating the instances wireless technology has been used as a safety tool. The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association and its members each year recognize Wireless Safety Week with safety awareness campaigns and by acknowledging wireless good samaritans.
CTIA presented its VITA Wireless Samaritan Awards recognizing individuals who have used their wireless phones to help others in emergency situations, including a bus driver who used his phone to call 911 for an assault victim and then detained the assailant while waiting for police, and a camp counselor who used his phone to call for help for a bicyclist who was struck by a car.
Verizon Wireless announced plans to offer its customers who manage their accounts online an incentive to go hands-free. The company said in honor of Wireless Safety Week it will give a 40-percent discount on wireless headsets to customers who use its “My Account” online account management program between now and July 7.
Verizon Wireless also announced it is again making its Verizon Wireless’ vIQ, or “vehicle Intelligence Quest,” educational curriculum teaching tool available to educators as they teach the next generation of drivers about wireless safety behind the wheel.
The company said vIQ is designed to be part of driver education curricula and is packaged with an instructive Educator’s Guide and video for educators to view with their students.
Cingular Wireless and Avis Rent A Car System announced a partnership to help limit distractions and increase sensibility while using a wireless device and driving a rental car.
The companies said key elements of the promotion include an online “Pledge to Be Sensible” offered to Avis customers, which earns them a free upgrade on their next rental and discounted accessories from Cingular. The two also will provide wireless safety tips at Avis’ largest airport locations throughout the United States and at www.avis.com. Year-round Avis bus advertising will provide Avis customers with constant reminders on how to limit the distraction of wireless phones and other devices while driving.
To help Avis customers comply with the state law in New York that prohibits the use of handheld phones while driving, the two companies said they will test market free headset distribution at six New York locations plus Newark.
