{"55560":{"#nid":"55560","#data":{"type":"news","title":"\u201cOprah\u201d Turns Ferst Center into No Phone Zone","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Ferst Center for the Arts was\ntransformed into a television studio Friday, April 30. Georgia Tech students\njoined those from Savannah College of Art \u0026amp; Design, Emory University,\nGeorgia State University and a handful of high schools gathered for the\nsatellite taping of Friday\u2019s \u201cOprah Winfrey Show.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s Ferst Center was one\nof five satellite feeds set up for Oprah\u2019s Friday show, which was dedicated to\nWinfrey\u2019s No Phone Zone campaign. Launched in January, the initiative seeks to\ngarner pledges from viewers to refrain from talking on the phone or texting\nwhile driving. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers\nusing hand-held devices are four times more likely to get into a serious crash.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOprah\u201d show organizers seated\nroughly 500 people under bright studio lights and handed out signs declaring a\n\u201cNo Phone Zone.\u201d In a first for the top-rated daytime talk show, four other\ncities\u2014Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.\u2014joined the Ferst\nCenter in a live link to the Chicago studio. In different segments, Winfrey spoke\nwith hosts stationed at each site. Actress Holly Robinson Peete moderated the\nGeorgia Tech crowd.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs the feed cut to the Ferst Center\nand the stage lights brightened, audience members responded by standing,\ncheering and waving their signs. At Tech, Lawrenceville resident Lisa Duffner recounted\nto Winfrey and the audience the death of her 2-year-old son, Ryan, in 1999. Duffner,\nRyan and her daughter were hit by a teenager talking on a cell phone while\ndriving a van. \u201cAll I\u2019m asking is for you to change your habits,\u201d she said.\n\u201cIt\u2019s a small thing to ask. [Talking on a cell phone while driving] has\ndestroyed my family.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlso in attendance was Donald Peck\nLeslie, medical director for the Atlanta-based Shepherd Center, which\nspecializes in treatment, research and rehabilitation for people with spinal\ncord and brain injuries. \u201c[Nearly] 65 percent of our patients are from motor\nvehicle injuries,\u201d he told the Ferst Center crowd. \u201cMore and more of these are\noccurring because of distracted driving. Please think about what you are doing.\n[Talking on the phone] while driving is an addiction, but it can be broken.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EImmediately following the taping,\nGeorgia Governor\u2019s Office of Highway Safety Deputy Director Spencer Moore\ninformed the crowd that the General Assembly had passed a Senate Bill 360,\nwhich effectively bans texting while driving. It has been sent to Governor\nSonny Perdue for his signature.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAccording to statistics from the\nNational Highway Traffic Safety Commission, nearly 6,000 people died in 2008\ndue to a distracted driver. Other studies show that the proportion of drivers\nreportedly distracted increased from 8 percent in 2004 to 11 percent in 2008. Each\nday, more than 800,000 drivers are using a hand-held mobile phone or device\nduring daylight hours.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETech joins satellite taping of \u0022The Oprah Winfrey Show\u0022 for host\u0027s No Phone Zone campaign.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27191","created_gmt":"2010-05-05 09:20:58","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:05:53","author":"Robert Nesmith","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-05-05T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2010-05-05T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"55561":{"id":"55561","type":"image","title":"Oprah No Phone Zone 1","body":null,"created":"1449175533","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:45:33","changed":"1475894491","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:31","alt":"Oprah No Phone Zone 1","file":{"fid":"190315","name":"Oprah1.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Oprah1_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Oprah1_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1435235,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Oprah1_0.jpg?itok=_GsZFCM0"}},"55562":{"id":"55562","type":"image","title":"Oprah No Phone Zone 2","body":null,"created":"1449175533","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:45:33","changed":"1475894491","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:31","alt":"Oprah No Phone Zone 2","file":{"fid":"190316","name":"Oprah2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Oprah2_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Oprah2_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":600945,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Oprah2_0.jpg?itok=V-s2zAh2"}}},"media_ids":["55561","55562"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.oprah.com\/NoPhoneZone","title":"No Phone Zone Campaign"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.legis.state.ga.us\/legis\/2009_10\/sum\/sb360.htm","title":"Georgia Senate Bill 360"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"9197","name":"distracted driving"},{"id":"261","name":"Ferst Center for the Arts"},{"id":"9247","name":"No Phone Zone"},{"id":"9246","name":"Oprah Winfrey"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELisa Ray Grovenstein\u003C\/strong\u003E, Director, Public Relations\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E404-894-8835\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}