I was thinking I’d head up to the bar this afternoon for a couple of hours before school gets out and throw back a couple of long island iced teas and then pick up my kids from school and head to the beach. Doesn’t that sound awesome?! I’ve got a six pack of Pabst blue ribbon in the trunk for myself on ice for the beach and some juice for the kids. It’s summer baby!!!! And I can’t wait.
What? Is there a problem?
I wasn’t being serious. I would never drive drunk… especially not with my kids in the car. If I got caught, I’d go to jail and the children would be taken away from me if I didn’t accidentally kill them first in an accident.
To those of us who have put our babies first since we saw that double line (and even before for many of us) hearing about people drunk driving with their children is a hard pill to swallow right? We went through our pregnancies without a drop of alcohol (unless the doctor told us to have a half of a glass of red wine to help stop preterm labor, of course.) We didn’t touch a cigarette. Some of us skipped amnios and ultrasounds because we didn’t want to put our babies at risk. In labor, many of us passed on narcotics and pain medicines, all in the name of keeping our babies as safe as they can be.
How could anyone drink and drive with their children in the car?!
Oh hey… Did you know that:
Texting while driving is more dangerous than drunk driving.
That’s not a myth. It’s not something they say to scare people into submission. It’s now scientific fact. I guess I thought with all of the new laws coming into effect about texting while driving that everyone knew that.
Yet, just yesterday, in the school parking lot, I saw no less than a dozen women (with their children in the car and with other people’s children all heading to their own cars) texting while driving.
What gives ladies?
We’re grown women. We have our own kids in the car. And even if they weren’t in the car… other people’s kids are on the road.
I know for a fact that driving with children in the car already makes it harder to concentrate. Sometimes the kids fight. Sometimes the baby coughs and we worry about choking. I’ve even had a toddler throw a sippy cup at my head. It’s hard enough to drive safely with children distracting you.
Yet hundreds of thousands of women choose to text while driving anyway.
The studies were in controlled environments on straightaways with no other vehicles on the road and the only distraction was either being drunk or texting. The studies showed texting while driving to be significantly more dangerous than driving while intoxicated. Can you imagine how much worse the results would have been if you added to the variables: other vehicles (with 20% of those drivers texting,) curved roads, children in the car and a radio?
Seriously ladies. Stop for a minute and think. Choose in this moment (if you haven’t yet) to vow to never text while driving. Nothing is so important it can’t wait until you pull over to the side of the road for you to read or send a text. NOTHING.
Say it after me ladies:
I swear to never text while driving.
I’m not kidding.
If you’ve made it this far into the blog and still haven’t chosen to swear never to text while driving, watch this:
amen. thank you for posting this! i don’t text at all anymore (we removed it primarily for financial reasons in order to help save a little money, but i also love not having it as a distraction to my life, my son and husband, and during other activities and family time). people can wait a few minutes for someone to get to their destination or take a driving break to text– or call if it’s so important. there is never an excuse to needlessly put anyone’s life in danger over a matter of carelessness. be blessed!
Dawn, thank you so much for this amazing post. Everyone needs to be more aware of this and that video just kills me. I’m definitely passing this one on.
Thanks for this post! I don’t text myself, but it terrifies me to think that even though I don’t, someone could be out there texting while driving and put me and my children in danger. Of course we can’t control what other people do, but I’m so glad this message is getting spread further and wider! 🙂
Dawn, I think you might have saved a few lives. thanks . . . Doesn’t seem like enough of a thank you.
Great post! I don’t talk/text while driving and I don’t talk/text my friends while they are driving either. I’ve hung up on people because they called me while driving.
Candy, that’s awesome!
Such an important message, I am sharing right now. Thanks!
Thank you everyone for the really nice feedback!
There’s another video from the UK about texting and driving that really showed me how horrible this is. I get furious when I see people with their kids in the car and they are holding the cell phone in their hands, turning the wheel, and texting away. I’ve nearly been hit twice, and texting while driving is ILLEGAL in my state!
Pass this along. Maybe it is forward enough to make someone think. Thanks for your comment.