For many of us, our cell phones are our lifelines. We use them through 90 percent of our waking hours. So it’s more difficult than we think it would be to detach ourselves from our phones so that we can drive, even if our commute is less than 10 minutes. As texting and driving causes more deaths each year,
Oprah Winfrey is campaigning for drivers to take their fingers off their keypad and get their eyes back on the road where they belong. Winfrey has declared April 30, 2010 “National No Phone Zone Day.” Online users can visit oprah.com tell their own “No Phone Zone” stories, create “No Phone Zone” public service announcements and take a pledge to stop using your phone when you’re on the road. The media queen wrote an Op-Ed piece in the NYTimes comparing texting and driving to the drunk driving epidemic of the 1970s and told the story of 9-year-old Erica Forney who was just 15 bicycle pedals away from her parents door when a driver, distracted by a cell phone, hit and killed her. “Starting from the moment you finish this article, and in the days, weeks and years that follow, give it up. Please,” Winfrey urged. “And to those who feel like this is asking too much, think about your own child just 15 pedals from your front door. Struck down.” Check in with Oprah for more on “National No Phone Zone Day.”
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