When I was asked by The Motherhood to serve as a Mom Ambassador for their Mom Sends A Message campaign, I instantly jumped on board. While I recently saw the PSA from the UK that shows a horrifying accident between teens who text while drive, I’ve also noticed first hand the dangers of distracted driving.
Recently, while sitting at my son’s baseball game, we heard a loud crash and when we turned around, a pair of girls in an SUV had careened right into the car in front of them. While there was no way of knowing at the time whether they were texting and driving, what followed afterward was pretty telling. The girls were so shocked that they remained in the car and proceeded to call their parents on their cell phone. They didn’t leave the car until one of my friends approached them and suggested they exit the vehicle rather than remain in an SUV that could have caught fire or been hit by another car while they were parked in the middle of an intersection.
And that’s why I agreed to not only sign the Moms Send a Message petition, encouraging other moms to vow not to text while driving, but to also warn teens who have just received their licenses that they need to put the cell phones away and focus on driving. If you’ve just passed your driving test, don’t you think you owe it to yourself to keep your hands on the wheel and not text while driving? As for moms (especially the blogging kind), it is incredibly tempting to steal a glance at your blackberry or iPhone while you’re stuck in traffic. But if you are tempted to respond to any message while you’re carting your kids to class or racing along on the highway, please stop what you are doing and think of what you could be doing to yourself and your family. Nothing is that important that it can’t wait until you reach your driveaway and take your kids out of the car.
If you’ve been distracted in the car and lived to tell about it, then why not make a promise to focus while you’re driving and save the texting for when you’re at home or in the office. We’ve all become a little too addicted to our gadgets. So please join me along with The Motherhood to sign the pledge against texting and driving. It’s time we all make a promise to protect ourselves and our families. And keeping our hands on the wheel instead of our cell phones is a great place to start. To find out how you can get involved in this important initiative, visit Moms Send a Message today and enter a contest where you can create a video PSA on distracted driving where you could win: $1,000 for 1st Place; $500 for 2nd Place and $250 for 3rd Place. Full contest details can be found on the website: www.momsmsg.com.