Oprah calls it "America's new deadly" obsession, texting, emailing and calling while driving. Oprah's show today illustrates the great tragedies that happen due to distracted driving.
Oprah urges her viewers to take a pledge. So far over 20,000 people have taken the
No Phone Zone pledge:I pledge to make my car a No Phone Zone. Beginning right now, I will do
my part to help put an end to distracted driving by not texting or
using my phone while I am driving. I will ask other drivers I know to do the same. I pledge to make a difference.
A recent survey found that 71 percent of people between the ages of 18
and 49 admit they text or talk on the phone while they drive.
When a train conductor wasn't paying attention while receiving 40 text messages. The train collided head-on with a freight train, injuring 135
people, killing the conductor and 24 other peopl.
A truck driver while texting hit a school bus carrying 21 students while. Twenty students escaped, but 13-year-old Margay
Schee was killed.
Nearly 500,000 people are
injured and 6,000 are killed each year because drivers are talking,
texting and e-mailing behind the wheel.
"It is my prayer that this
show, this day will be a seminal day in your life," Oprah says. "Let it
be the end, the end of you using a cell phone or sending a text message
when you are behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. And until we as a
nation decide we're going to change that, those numbers are only going
to go up."
Another good resource for information is
FocusDriven, where Elissa Schee the mother of Margay Schee along with other concerned parents are helping victims and campaigning to fight distracted driving.
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