oprah’s challenge | no phone zone

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Do you find yourself on the phone while driving-whether chatting or texting? Any idea how dangerous it is? While traveling overseas, we’ve lived in places that have mafia affiliated governments, many cities who leave speed tracking completely up to a camera, and some that don’t stress about drinking and driving. Although many of these laws are just as, if not more, unsafe, international countries have been implementing rules against phone use while driving. I had my previous, old-school, flip phone for the past 4 years. I even had myself convinced that I was a professional texter, sometimes able to text without looking. After arriving home this time my family upgraded to new touch phones and my texting abilities are horrific. Don’t get me wrong, I know that I was still completely unsafe, but now I truly understand the dangers.

As if the marvelous Oprah hasn’t had a slew of amazingly helpful campaigns, she initiates the No Phone Zone, where you’d think government policies could have stepped in while all of our cellular technologies were advancing.

Take the pledge with almost 150,000 others {No Phone Zone Pledge}

In September 2008, a Los Angeles commuter train conductor missed a red light while sending and receiving more than 40 text messages. His packed train collided head-on with a freight train, injuring 135 people. The conductor and 24 others were killed, making it the second worst commuter train crash in U.S. history.

Weeks later, a school bus carrying 21 students was rear-ended by an 18-wheel semi-truck. The bus was pushed more than 200 feet before bursting into flames. Twenty students escaped, but 13-year-old Margay Schee was killed. The truck driver admitted he had been texting and hadn’t seen that the bus was stopped.

These accidents made national headlines, but so many others have been killed in communities just like yours. 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.”

Most European countries ban the use of handheld cell phones while driving, but not all U.S. states have laws restricting texting and driving. So far, 19 states and the District of Columbia have banned texting while driving. In seven states and the District of Columbia, drivers can only use their cell phones if they are hands-free. Of�the states with these laws, Utah’s laws are among the strictest, due to one distracted driver and two grieving families.

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