You might already be familiar with the bad alternative to texting and driving: voice-to-text and simply talking on the phone. But on the other hand, we also get that sometimes you have to communicate while you’re traveling, whether it’s coordinating who will pick up the kids from soccer practice in Farmington, Utah or deciding where to go to dinner in downtown Salt Lake. Whatever the case, there’s a safe way to communicate while driving that won’t cause an auto accident.
Step One: Set Personal Boundaries
A great way to become “phone free” while driving is to set firm boundaries — not only with yourself. but also with the people you communicate with the most. If family members, friends or anyone — even your lawyer — know that you don’t reply to texts/messages/calls while you’re driving, they’ll be less likely to pursue communication with you while you’re coming home from Farmington or headed for a weekend trip in southern Utah. The first step to reducing your risk for a text-related auto accident is setting firm boundaries.
Step Two: Take a Pledge
Sometimes, however, it’s not enough to just set boundaries with ourselves and those around us; sometimes we need to do something physical to reinforce the idea. People who have been impacted by the negative repercussions of texting and driving sponsor numerous “pledge” campaigns, such as Robert J Debry’s Stop the Texts, Stop the Wrecks campaign.
Step Three: Spread the Word
We don’t want you to have to call a lawyer because you got into an auto accident while you were texting and driving on the way home from Farmington — our biggest concern is your continued safety. We hope that you never have to call a lawyer because you hit someone while texting (or because someone hit you while texting). Set personal boundaries to not text and drive, take a pledge and spread the word; whatever you decide to do, you’ll be helping reduce the rate of auto accidents and injuries everywhere.