Cell phones and driving do not mix!

Well, I really like my cell phone, but I know that there are other things we do that need our full, undivided attention, and driving is one of them!

I guess most folks think they can do just about anything while driving--but we all tend to get a little too complacent about driving and we forget how complicated it is and how the least hindrance or distraction can be deadly, yes, even for US. (We aren't super people who are incapable of mistakes.)

Yesterday my cousin asked prayer on Facebook for his wife's aunt who, while talking on the phone, DROVE UNDER AN EIGHTEEN WHEELER. She was alive but in much pain in the hospital the last I heard, BUT that is just how serious and how dangerous a thing it is for a driver to be distracted by a phone--or a radio or CD player, any electronic gizmo, eating or drinking, reaching for something, or even talking to a passenger WHILE DRIVING.

You can kill yourself or someone else!

The recent study that says not only texting while driving but also just talking on the phone, EVEN HANDS FREE, is as dangerous as driving under the influence should be taken seriously. Put the phones away when you need to be concentrating on the road, your driving, and those other drivers on the road.

I loaned my car to my daughter, so I don't drive much anymore, BUT when I do, my cell phone is IN my purse, in the floor, out of reach. ALSO OUT OF TEMPTATION'S WAY.) If a call is urgent, they will leave a voice mail, I will hear my special voice mail ring and I can pull over and check it and return the call if needed. If it is just someone wanting to yak or sending a text message, my special rings tell me basically if it is a text or a call and who the call is from. Amazingly programmable, those cell phones! I keep mine with me always, but I am not its slave!

I told EVEN my husband that if I don't answer his call or reply to his text immediately, that it means I am driving or busy and I will do so as soon as possible. Now my husband is usually going to be calling on his break or something, so he is going to call repeatedly or text repeatedly instead of waiting, but....after I park the car, I will call him or reply to his text (the one followed by the dozen other texts with only question marks.)

WHY not just keep the phone in my hand? Because I have driven past my turn just having a conversation with my passenger because I was distracted, and I know the phone is a worse distraction that could make me do a lot worse than miss my turn and have to turn around and go back.

YOU CAN'T TURN AROUND AND GO BACK AFTER DRIVING UNDER AN EIGHTEEN WHEELER OR HITTING A TREE.

My husband, son and daughter scare me because I know they drive while on the phone, although my daughter assures me she uses hers on speaker phone and has it lying on the seat and not in her hand.
I try to time my calls to all of them so as NOT to catch them while they are driving.

If I call you while you are driving, let it go and call me back later! I will do the same if you call me while I am driving.

I have seen my sister take an make calls constantly while driving. She can't seem to go fifteen minutes without talking to her husband when she is on the road. I have also seen her contort herself and lean over the seat to dig in her purse or grab something from the back seat while driving. She cannot possibly SEE the road while her body is practically tied in a knot with her head hanging over the seat and her eyes looking down into the back seat or into her purse. Scary situation. She weaves and runs off the edge of the road, etc. I know she is not the only woman who does it. I have seen women feeding kids, dressing kids, refereeing fights between kids, putting on make-up, digging in backpacks and diaper bags, you name it--all while driving.

It isn't just women. I have seen a guy driving while reading a book propped on his steering wheel! I have seen guys with a drink in one hand and a sandwich in the other and still driving. I have watched my son flip through his CDs, select a different one and change them out while driving, as if playing with the radio buttons was not distraction enough!

There is no sense in doing junk like that! Leave earlier, drive safely, take your time, pull over to do any of the junk you think you absolutely must do this very minute--and please don't kill anyone trying to do it all behind the wheel of a moving car!