No Phone Zone Pledge

About a month ago a friend told me about the Oprah Winfrey’s “No Phone Zone” pledge. Oprah was asking that people give up using their phones while driving, meaning no texting. My first reaction was...”people actually text and drive at the same time?” Then I heard the pledge takes it a step further, asking people to not talk on their phones (or at least to use a bluetooth if you must talk). I had to dig pretty deep on this one. I am a full-fledge “phone in the car” user. I would catch up on all my phone calls while traveling from meeting to meeting. Still intrigued by this “epidemic” as Oprah calls it, I thought long and hard, watched her shows on the subject, heard the sadness people have suffered, and finally, I knew what I needed to do.

So, nearly three weeks ago I made a conscious decision to take the “No Phone Pledge”. I went and bought my bluetooth, learned how to take advantage of all the features and signed the pledge. I have many reasons for signing this, most importantly is for the safety of me, my children and those driving around me. When we are in the moment, focusing on the task at hand, we are fully responsible for our actions. This is one situation where I did not want to be responsible for an action that could cause such devastation.

This is a new routine for me that I am working on very hard. There is another reason I am so attached to this issue. Several years ago my own mother was hit by a car while she was out on her morning walk. The driver of the vehicle was busy looking for a garage sale and not paying attention to the street. After all the surgeries and eight months of recovering in the hospital, my mother is now well leading an amazingly productive life. I feel so lucky and blessed to have her.

I can’t imagine what it would feel like to cause an accident because I was not paying attention to my task at hand - driving. As a car dealer, I understand the need to have cars and the need to respect our vehicles. The cars we now have on the road are beautiful vehicles with lots of power - let’s not make them a deadly weapon.

Now I am asking you to join me in Oprah’s crusade. Take the “No Phone Zone” pledge and save yours or someone else’s life. Eliminate the chance of that ever happening. On Friday, April 30, Oprah will be hosting the “National No Phone Zone Day.” Chevrolet will be one of the many sponsors supporting Oprah on that day. I will be one of the fortunate few who will be in the audience, also giving Oprah my full support. Please continue to follow me this week as I count down the days to her show. For more information on the “No Phone Zone” pledge please click here or go to Oprah.com. Save a life, save yourself.