No Phone Zone

Hello, my name is Tara and I talk/text/email while driving.

The first step to recovery is admitting the problem, right? So there. I use my phone while driving, more often than I'd like to admit. Whether it’s to talk, text, or email, I have been really, REALLY bad about it. I’m not proud of it, but I confess: I’m pretty bad when it comes to multitasking while driving. I’m not even going to make any excuses for it, because I know it’s dangerous.

It’s partly arrogance on my part - on some level, I apparently believe that I am so in control that I am capable of multitasking while driving. I suppose it’s not all that different than the mechanism that convinces someone who’s drunk to get behind the wheel and drive because they’re “not that drunk.” As it turns out, it's just as dangerous. Another problem is that I perceive my car time as precious “free” time. My life is so busy that I actually view my driving time as a valuable opportunity to catch up with people. RI-DI-CU-LOUS. Right?

I’m certainly not trying to find any justification for my incredibly irresponsible behavior. In fact, the reason why I’m coming clean and writing this blog is that I hope others will read it and give pause, because I know this is an all too common thing in our over-digitized, busy-busy world. The whole reason this has come up for me (duh, yes, it’s dawned on me before, but bad habits are hard to break) is because I keep hearing about Oprah Winfrey’s “No Phone Zone” Campaign. If there’s one thing Oprah is good at, it’s attracting attention and getting lots of people on board with a cause. She started the “No Phone Zone” Campaign in conjunction with a Fort Collins, CO couple whose daughter was killed when a woman ran her over while talking on the phone (she was distracted and didn’t see her). This is not a unique story, unfortunately.

I decided to visit Oprah’s No Phone Zone online and read some of these stories (there are videos, too). Needless to say, I felt pretty awful afterward for allowing myself to be a distracted driver for so long. I do, however feel incredibly grateful that I haven’t had to learn this the hard way like so many others have. Forget about my own safety, I cannot imagine what it would be like to cause an accident that takes the life of another human being because I was too busy texting or blabbing on the phone to pay enough attention to the extremely important task at hand. Or infinitely worse, losing a loved one because someone in another car just had to respond to that work email, and in an instant, took someone away forever. This is something that could happen to any of us as long as people keep doing like I've been doing, and pretending that texting/phoning/emailing while driving isn't that bad.

I’ll never forget what a police officer said to me one time when I got pulled over for speeding in a school zone. He was understandably pissed off, and with a raised voice said, “PLEASE don’t forget that you are driving a two-ton bullet.”

So here's to not forgetting.

Related articles/sites:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-6090342-7.html
http://www.oprah.com/packages/no-phone-zone.html