another one year projectThis year we follow the words of Oprah Winfrey

This is the start of something really big in America. Oprah is asking us to give up something which we do all too much- texting while driving. This is maybe more dangerous than driving drunk- talking on the phone while driving is the equivalent of having 4 drinks and getting behind the wheel. The audience have taken a pledge to stop texting while driving; they are all wearing pledge t-shirts. Oprah is passionate about the issue and hopes that we will be too, that we will spread the message amongst our families, friends and communities.

The problem is not just texting, but also talking on the phone. They are both part of a dangerous practice called distractive driving. Almost 6 thousand people die, and 1/2 million are injured each year by a driver with their hands off the wheel. Drivers on the  phone are 4  times more likely to have an  accident than those concentrating on driving. 19 states plus DC have banned texting; in 7 states plus DC one can only use cell phones if they are hands free.

A year ago Shelly and Darren were happily married with 3 girls. On the way home from the doctors, Shelly saw fire trucks at end of her street. There were fire trucks and all these people and a child laying on ground. She had no idea it was her child, but then she saw Erica’s bicycle. The driver was distracted on the phone, and hit Erica face-on with her 5000lb SUV. The neurosurgeon knew she wouldn’t make it. Sheelly spend the night saying goodbye. Erica has gone because of a person on a cell phone.

Shelly’s kids at the time were 13 year old, Jessica, Erica was 9 and Valerie was 4 years old. Shelly was on her way home from doctor, she drove home talking to her dad on her bluetooth headset. She got out the car just at the end of their street, and saw her child laying still. The driver of the SUV said I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t see her. The paramedics cut off Erica’s clothes- at this point Shelly realized this was serious. They spent the next two days at the children’s hospital. Darren says that Erica was out on her bike, 30 seconds from their house- 15 pedals from home, when the neighbor called him to say Erica had had an accident.

Oprah strongly believes that the laws need to change- Shelly and Darren are very proactive to try to change the law in Colorado. Shelly does not want anyone else to go through this. Shelly says we are doing too much, we must concentrate on driving- the deaths are not worth a phone call, a text, an email. Don’t talk and drive.

Throughout the show we will hear from more families who have paid the price for our deadly habit. A series of articles in the New York Times inspired this program which Oprah has waned to do for a long time.

In Oxford England- Victoria, 24, was a fashion designer. She got a flat tire, pulled over, put on her hazard lights and called her mother. 3 minutes later, Phillipa Curtis hit the back of the car, killing Victoria instantly. Phillipa was sending emails. Victoria’s mother says that seeing the car brings it all home. You never forget.

Jordan was the most lovable being that his father ever encountered. He was 18 years old, on Mothers Day. Around 4.25pm his parents called him on his cellphone and the line went dead. Soon after, the police came to the door. They went to the hospital, where they were told their son was dead. The father said he let out a primal scream like you hear in the movies. He says you feel like your whole life has died- children should not die before their parents. His job was to protect his son and he couldn’t do it; his son died. They believe he dropped his cell phone, unbuckled his seat belt and bent down to pick it up. He hit a big tree and was killed instantly.

There are two reasons why Utah has the strictest laws against distractive driving. Megan says her dad Keith was her whole world. Before the incident, Jackie was married with two kids and now she is a single parent. Jackie kissed her husband Jim goodbye as he went to pick up his colleague Keith on the way to work. At her work two hours later, Jackie was told he was dead. A 19 year old was texting while driving. Jackie lost Jim and Megan lost her father Keith. They were told the driver of a Tahoe went across the yellow line, hit Keith and Jim- their car span out of control and was blindsided by another vehicle. They were killed instantly. It was hard to believe the news. There was shock, dismay, disbelief.  Jackie insisted that Reggie, the 19 year old driver, watched the funeral; he should know who he had killed.

Reggie Shaw was the 19 year old texting while driving instead of focusing on the road. He admits he was texting, he clipped another vehicle sending it into traffic. Opra appreciates that he is here. Reggie texted maybe almost  100% of the time while driving, as did most of his friends. Oprah finds this hard to believe, knows we can’t do this at the same time as driving, perhaps because she is an older person. Reggie says he never thought about it. Oprah says she does not use the word stupid much, and she isn’t calling Reggie stupid, but she says it is a stupid thing to do, to take your eyes off the road. In Reggie’s Driver’s Ed he says that no one mentioned how dangerous texting while driving is. He felt terrible when he discovered that he’d killed two people. He says it never gets easier. It affects his life every day. He can’t forgive himself for his bad choice. He can’t sleep at night; every day is hard.

Oprah says for every single person who texts, we could be looking at ourself when we look at Reggie in this chair. He didn’t mean to do it, it could happen to any of us. Oprah asks if he thought he could text and drive safely at the same time. He says of course he did but one second later this poor choice took two people’s lives. Reggie speaks out at high schools and gatherings; he explains to high schoolers that it is absolutely not safe to take your mind off the road. In the aftermath of this accident, Utah passed some of the strictest laws. Reggie was an essential part of this- he approached lawmakers to hasten the laws. Jackie says she has forgiven him; he went above and beyond his punishment in some cases. Oprah asks what his punishment was. He did 30 days in jail and 30 days of community service. Oprah asks if he thinks that he was in jail long enough. Reggie thinks how hard it was for him in jail, and thinks about the two lives lost, and he doesn’t know if it was long enough. Oprah thanks him for his honesty and for coming on the show.

AJ was a presence; goofy and funny and he had an amazing smile. On Dec 3rd, 2007, his mother was coming down the street and saw an accident ahead- she saw that it was her son’s car. At the hospital the doctors said they did all the could but they could not save him. He rolled through a stop sign into the path of a garbage truck. he was texting his girlfriend. The accident was 100% preventable. We are not talking about statistics, we are talking about mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, aunties, and uncles. She says that her son is not a number, not a statistic, he was her son.

Linda was 61 years old. A little over a year ago, the family lost their hero. A 23 year old driver t-boned Linda’s car at a light. He was engrossed in in a conversation on his cell phone. Linda’s daughter, Jennifer. says seeing the seat was the hardest part. She asks us to put our loved one in that seat, is that phone call worth it? Before her accident, Jennifer who is a realtor, used her car as her office. Even with a headset, she says you should not talk while driving- it’s not where your hands are, it’s where your head is. The man who killed her mother  was on the phone for less than a minutes, his brain couldn’t handle it, he didn’t see the light. You can’t do it, you are not Superman. She has a bumper sticker that says “someone talking on their cell phone while driving killed my mom”.

Dr David Strayer, a professsor at the University of Utah says our brain doesn’t work the way we’d like it too- we can’t multitask the way we think we can. Many people think they are safer drivers, but we are not. Texting makes it like a multitude of drunks on the road says Oprah. David says it is worse than drunks- you are 8 times more likely to crash while texting, drunk driving is equivalent to talking on a phone- you are 4 times more likely to have accident. Talking on the phone gives us tunnel vision. Your brain won’t let you take in all the information. We have  inattention blindness- you see about half of the visual information in front of us. The brain can’t take in all the information; we are not wired to multitask that way. We miss quite a bit.

In 2008 a San Antonia bus driver was caught on video driving and texting while in rush hour traffic. He looked up to the camera a split second before slamming on his brakes and ploughing into the car ahead. Months later in LA, a train driver so distracted sending and receiving over 40 text messages, missed a red light and his commuter train crashed into a freight train. 135 were injured. 25, including the conductor, were killed, making it the 2nd worst commuter train accident in US history. Weeks later, a school bus with 21 students was rammed by an 18 wheeler, when stopped with its blinkers on The bus was pushed over 200 feet before it burst into flames. 20 students escaped but one was tragically killed. The driver of the 18 wheeler admitted he was distracted on the phone and did not see that the bus had stopped.

71% people age 18-49 admit they text or talk on the phone while they drive. If you do that and think you’re safe, the next three guests are right there with you. Sean, a father of 4, thinks he has great driving and texting skills. Carly, a stay at home mom of 2, once found herself in the opposite lane while texting. Jen is  a 19 year old college student and self-procclaimed super-texter. To gauge how dangerous their driving/ texting habits are, they went to do some driving tests. They were tested for reaction times stopping at a red light, and had to complete a slalom to measure deviation from their path. Each test was done twice;  once concentrating on driving and again while texting and driving.

Jen hit a cone while texting, as did Sean, as did Carly. Jen felt she was out of control, Sean found the test hard- he sees this as a wake-up call. Carly thinks she’s very lucky that nothing has happened to her to date.

Gerard Ball, the editor at Car and Driver Magazine, analysed the data results of the road tests.. The results are dramatic. The reaction times increase greatly- there is a 22 ft difference in reaction time. This could be a huge difference between stopping or hitting someone. Oprah puts Carly on the spot saying she went into other lane before while texting, but now says the driving test has changed her life. Carly wants to spread the word and make a change in her city, to stop these 100% preventable accidents. Jen thought she could do it because all high school and college students text and drive. She feels that if all kids did the road test, she is 120% sure that the bad habits would stop. Sean was really cocky about texting and driving, he felt he was invincible. His wife always called him on it- he found the the test to be a big wake-up call. He went into the test thinking he could do it all. Now he realises that these accidents could have been him or his family. His wife was very infuriated by his behavior. He is a defensive football player, and that attitude spilled into his driving.

Oprah calls on us to make our cars a No Phone Zone, we can take the pledge on Oprah.com and pass it on via Twitter and Facebook. She urges that we make this show the end of being on the phone in the car. She asks us to take another look at the faces of the children, husbands, fathers, mothers who were killed by a distracted driver… and look at the loved ones left behind who carry that pain for the rest of their lives. She says we should think about that next time we are tempted to use your phone when driving.

Don’t tempt fate, that text or call when wait. Believe it. Thanks everybody.

WHAT WE LEARNED TODAY:

Talking on the phone while driving is as unsafe as driving with 4 drinks in your system- you are 4 times more likely to have an accident

Texting is twice as dangerous as talking while driving- statistically you are 8 times more likely to have an accident

Distractive driving is responsible for six thousand deaths and half a million injuries per year

These numbers are not just statistics, they are mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers

These accidents are 100% preventable

A VERY QUICK SUMMARY:

Don’t tempt fate, that text or call when wait. Believe it.