The Great Hang Up in Florida: National No Phone Zone Day declared by Oprah

Driving and texting kills.  Period the end.  Today, April 30th, has been declared by the Queen of Talk, Oprah Winfrey, as National No Phone Zone Day. As many are following her lead, Florida has joined in by creating The Great Hang Up!

Eighty percent of all crashes and 65 percent of near crashes involve some type of distraction. Take cell phones for example - their use while driving can reduce the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent. Drivers who use phones are four times as likely to get into crashes. - Source: First Coast News

• Using a cell phone while driving can delay a person's reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent.
• Nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted or inattentive driver, and more than half a million were injured.
• Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.
• Driving while using a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent.
• Eighty percent of all crashes and 65 percent of near crashes involve some type of distraction.

Talking, texting and driving can kill the same way drinking and driving can.  As more and more teens use texting as their first course of communication, they are the ones we need to stress that texting and driving can kill.  Parents need to be firm on their rules of texting, talking and driving.  No text is worth dying over.

Florida teens have put together a group of PSA (Public Service Announcements) to spread the word about the dangers of texting and driving.  Watch and vote today. Click here.  Definitely worth watching and encourage your teens to watch too.

Be an educated parent, you will have safer teens.

Watch video below.  Don't forget to VOTE - click on above link.