This post is dedicated to all of those out there texting while driving. May your fingers go weak when the car ignition starts, may your think twice at the results you are about to yield and may all of us on the road be delivered safely to our destination and NEVER pass you or drive in your proximity. ~Dana
Some weeks I think that I know every crevice in my car far better than any room in my home as I spend countless, tireless hours driving to events, games, and to work festivities. Much of my weekends are consumed in driving and often the kids are in the car as we go from rink to rink or event to event. Once I get in the car, I find it to be social time with the kids as they chatter, we talk, listen to music and generally have fun to keep the time moving and the drove not boring. My phone switches over to Bluetooth, and other than that I don’t touch my phone. I leave it in my purse zippered because if you need to talk to me, you have my number. Adventure. Eat. DIY. Repeat. this is what a bunch of strangers have taught my kids about texting while driving.
Unfortunately a select number of drivers don’t choose to ignore the phone while driving and it is creating quite a topic of conversation in my car, among many other moms that I am speaking with and families. My daughter is old enough to drive and she has already heard the horror stories of texting and driving and witnessed the death of a parent in her school to a TEEN texting, driving and crashing into the parent and the effects are downright devastating. Texting Can Wait until you are parked or reach your destination. If you are reading this and disagree, I would log off, because I am going to continue down this path as I don’t accept texting and driving as a formidable pair, it is intolerable and the results are not only deadly but completely unnecessary and avoidable. I completely disagree with driving and texting and I fear for the safety of everyone else that is driving while YOU are texting.
There is no message that someone needs to get to me while I am driving that can’t wait. If I hit the lottery, use my phone number, if I got that job, call me and if my kids are injured or hurt, the school better be calling and not texting. There is nothing like a phone call and while a call can change your WHOLE Life, I would rather a call to inform me of something than a text to sidetrack me and take my focus off of driving. My question is why are people texting and driving knowing that you need complete focus when driving? Let’s face it, we all have off days and when you are driving sometimes you don’t stay in your lane, stop quick enough, see a red light, or even notice that pothole that you should have swerved from and the least little distraction(like an incoming text) can be deadly. Think about the people that walk along the side-roads, along street sides, unlit streets, and corners, and then think about texting, not seeing them, just seeing a phone and the next thing you will see is jail!
I really want to thank the numerous teachers on the road that are offering my kids first hand perspective on why not to text while driving. On long distance trips, as we travel a lot, we have been next to large 18 wheelers, swerving while they drive, taking up 2 lanes, increasing acceleration, decreasing acceleration and then as I successfully pass them, we look over to see what is going on and there is a phone and a person texting! On other occasions we have watched people jump over to an exit and what is in their hand while clutching the wheel? You got it their phone.
Our most recent observation was a car not going nearly 55 MPH on a 65 MPH road and we could not pass on the left as there was a lot of traffic. The driver in front of us was going slower and slower, seat tilted back, and two hands on top of the steering wheel and the phone right between them… TEXTING. I guess even more disappointing is when we see people we know, with young children in the car, texting and driving. We were recently driving behind a mom in a minivan loaded with kids it was dark, and we were driving on a highway, but I keep seeing the car swerve to the right and then quickly recover. I began to wonder what was going on, but when we got to the red light and I pulled up next to her to pass, she did not even notice because she was texting away. We had seen the back-lighting on the phone already but I was hoping that she was not texting. My heart ached for those children in the car because the texting is like a ticking time bomb and it will explode.
I do want to thank all of those who are texting while driving because it is showing my children what NOT to do and they are bringing it to my attention. I will continue to swerve, pass and move around you, but I do hope that you stop texting because trust me the message on the other end CAN WAIT. Lavishly live your life without that text machine in your hand because the only thing that a text will cause is an accident. A missed text is not the end of the world, it is just letters and numbers on a screen that will be there, long after you park the car. Be safe, do not text and drive.
