Millions of people text, talk or e-mail on their cell phones while driving—a recent survey finds that 71 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 49 admit they text or talk on the phone while they drive.
If you think you can call, text and drive at the same time, you cannot. That message you can’t wait to send could kill. Distracted driving is an epidemic that is sweeping through our country, claiming lives and destroying families.
In September 2008, a Los Angeles commuter train conductor missed a red light while sending and receiving more than 40 text messages. His packed train collided head-on with a freight train, injuring 135 people. The conductor and 24 others were killed, making it the second worst commuter train crash in U.S. history.
Weeks later, a school bus carrying 21 students was rear-ended by an 18-wheel semitruck. The bus was pushed more than 200 feet before bursting into flames. Twenty students escaped, but 13-year-old Margay Schee was killed. The truck driver admitted he had been texting and hadn’t seen that the bus was stopped.
These accidents made national headlines, but so many others have been killed in communities just like yours. Nearly 500,000 people are injured and 6,000 are killed each year because drivers are talking, texting and e-mailing behind the wheel.
Texting and driving is as equally dangerous as drinking and driving. It is the equivalent of having 4 drinks and getting behind the wheel of a vehicle. Do you do this? Do you text while driving with your children in the car? Would you drink and drive with your children in the car? Is that text message or email worth your life, your spouses life, your children’s life, you parent’s life? Think about it. Sign the pledge.
Sign Oprah’s No Phone Zone Pledge here. Or click here for a printable version. Or visit Mom Sends the Msg for even more information.
Did you know?
• Distracted driving is a major contributor to car crashes, especially among young drivers. Drivers under 20 years of age represent the largest proportion of distracted drivers on the road with 16% of all fatal crashes involving these young drivers driving while distracted according NHTSA.
• Distraction from cell phone use while driving (hand held or hands free) delays a driver’s reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. (University of Utah)
• Drivers that use handheld devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
• On any given day in 2008, more than 800,000 vehicles were driven by someone using a handheld cell phone. (National Safety Council)
