Oprah Takes On Distracted Driving

It’s no secret that we’ve advocated for people to be more careful about driving and texting.  Some of our prior posts on this include:

• Get Off Your Cell Phone In A School Zone
• Another Story On The Dangers of Texting And Driving
• Auto Accidents and Text Messaging (series of articles)

 But now, someone with a little more reach is taking on this topic.  Oprah is engaging in a concerted effort to inform people about the dangers of distracted driving, in particular, the dangers of texting while driving and using cell phones while driving.

On Sunday, April 25, 2010, she published an editorial in the New York Times:  Dnt Txt N Drv.  In the editorial, she notes that when she started reporting in 1973, a drunk driving death was big news.  But as the number of drunk driving deaths increased, the stories became less and less newsworthy until the country finally figured it out. 

The same thing is happening with deaths from texting while driving.  While the first deaths were newsworthy, the numbers continue to pile up, and the stories of deaths from texting while driving  seem to no longer command the news attention the way they once did.  Hopefully, the nation is at a tipping point where we finally “get it” about this issue too.  As Oprah says, there are a lot of natural disasters that we have no control over.  But this is someting we can control, and we should strive to end these deaths.

Following her editorial, Oprah hosted “No Phone Zone Day” on her show on April 30.  The show featured live rallies across the country and asked viewers to pledge to make their cars No Phone Zones.  She is also launching a line of No Phone Zone products and donating all porceeds to FocusDriven, an advocacy group for victims of motor vehicle crashes involving drivers using cell phones. 

Please heed Oprah’s warning and make the roads safer for all of us.