EXETER -- Paige Phoenix knows first-hand the dangers of texting while driving.

Just a few days ago, the 17-year-old from Stratham was a passenger in a car driven by a teenage friend who was texting and blew through a stop sign.

“There was an oncoming car and it was so scary,” she said.

Phoenix and her friend were lucky this time because they avoided a crash.

“Hopefully, he'll learn from that,” she said.

Phoenix's close call is hardly unique, which is exactly the reason why schools in New Hampshire and others joined a nationwide campaign Wednesday aimed at making young drivers and their passengers more aware of the risks involved when they text behind the wheel.

It's a distraction that's become all too common and one that proved deadly for Donald Bowley Jr. of Danville, who was killed in February 2011 when 18-year-old Aaron Deveau's car drifted into his lane and struck his vehicle in Haverhill, Mass.

Deveau was found guilty of texting while driving earlier this year and became the first person to be tried under a Massachusetts law adopted in 2010 that makes it illegal to text and drive. New Hampshire has a similar law.

“The message is, 'Put it down,'” said Stacey Clark, an English teacher and adviser at Great Bay eLearning Charter School in Exeter.

The charter school, along with Epping High School and Spaulding High School in Rochester, took part in Wednesday's “No Text on Board Pledge Day” — an event established as part of AT&T's national anti-texting and driving educational campaign called “It Can Wait.”

AT&T teamed up with the Injury Prevention Center at Children's Hospital at Dartmouth to send a powerful message to teenagers at the three schools — a message safety experts hope will spread.

Students also signed a pledge to not text and drive.

“I really believe the average teenager wants to be a good driver. They don't understand the risks. The hope is that if they hear it enough in different ways that eventually it will influence them,” said Howard Hedegard, highway safety specialist at the Injury Prevention Center, who spoke to students along with Steve Gratton, program director for Allstate Foundation's Teen Safe Driving Program, and Owen Smith, AT&T's director of external affairs.

Distracted driving is a growing problem, Hedegard said. Of the 90 people killed on New Hampshire roads last year, he said 14 involved distracted drivers.

“When you look at the numbers from 2004 to 2011 the growth each is so concerning,” Hedegard said.

To combat the problem, the three local schools planned different activities to mark the day.

Students at Great Bay eLearning Charter School spent most of their day focused on the safety campaign, creating message boards, bumper stickers and boxes to hold phones to keep them out of reach when driving.

They also participated in games and a tricycle and scooter simulation. Students were blindfolded and then had to maneuver around cones while riding a tricycle or scooter.

“You can't hit those cones because you don't want to kill someone,” Clark told the students before they began.

Freshman Drake Dumont, 14, of Epping, said it was “kind of weird not knowing where I was going.”

While Dumont isn't old enough to drive, he still worries about what it will be like when he's on the road.

“Just because I'm attentive it doesn't mean other drivers will be as focused as I will be,” he said.

Hedegard said the messages delivered Wednesday were just as important for teenage passengers who must speak up if their safety is threatened by a texting driver.

Like impaired drivers who designate a friend to drive them home, Hedegard said drivers should ask a passenger to be their designated texter.

Jasmine Johnson, 17, of Exeter, a senior at Great Bay eLearning Charter School, said she hopes the message of distracted driving reaches her peers just as seatbelt safety did after the death of her friend.

Johnson received a $1,200 grant from Allstate for a project last year focused on seatbelt safety inspired by the death of Chelsea Fuller, 17, of Brentwood, who died in 2010 when her car overturned on a Massachusetts highway.

“If that had not happened then probably there would be more people not wearing seatbelts,” Johnson said.

- - - - - - - -

Jason Schreiber may be reached at jschreiber@newstote.com.