Today I had my kids color in free, printable pages I downloaded from AT&T's site.
They read "No Text On Board"
I taped them into the inside of my car.
Hoping someone will see and think twice. You are probably thinking, yeah right lady. Before you leave this page, hear me out.
Car crashes are the leading cause of death to people under the age of 12.
A lot of fatal car crashes are avoidable. That is what drives me mad. But that fact drives me. And it is a fact.
Adults are now texting and driving more then teenagers. What a pathetic statistic.
Look around you when you are at stop signs. People have their heads down, looking at their phones. They are probably talking or texting to people they like or perhaps love. They risk not only their own life but yours and others as well.
April is Distracted Awareness Month.
You should care.
Around 110 Americans die in car crashes every single day. And what pisses me off is that a lot of these crashes don't need to happen. They are not accidents. When you are given a diagnosis of cancer the majority seek treatment. Why are we Americans driving around pretending that "accidents" just happen and there's nothing to do to avoid them but buy a safer car? That's the big fat lie we are living by. When we are sick we take care of ourselves. We need to take care of ourselves by driving safely.
I'm talking to as many people as I can now about the dangers of texting, talking and using hands free while driving. It is not safe. Please help us spread the word.
I had printed out on the table a page that had information about a little 9 year-old girl who was run over by someone texting and driving. My 6 1/2 year-old asked who she was. I hesitated and then said, she was a little girl who got run over by and adult texting and driving and she died.
My son was quiet.
A few minutes later I heard him ask my nanny, "Where is this little girl?" My awesome nanny explained that the girl went before her time.
We talk to our kids about danger. The dangers of pools, guns, strangers. We need to talk to them about the danger of cars. But we need to stop being the danger.
We have to start driving with more care for one another.
Because who wants to die in a freaking car crash? Speeding and zipping through lanes just to get somewhere 10 minutes before others is senseless. Especially if you never get there.
There is so much that can be done so I hope you can do something in honor of Distracted Driving month for all of the people who have died in car crashes.
And in the last 10 years alone that number is over 1/2 million, in America alone.
Where are the ribbons for that cause?