Seriously, Don't Be Dumb

In the last few months, my awareness of distracted driving has shot up incredibly and I felt compelled to write a post about it after hearing some horrible news and reading this heartbreaking article. 

I'm from a small country town in Northern San Diego called Valley Center and as significant as every person who lives here is, no one captured the hearts of our community more than the Ackermanns. These two never failed to go on their morning walks, hand in hand, with a trash bag, cleaning up the litter on side of the road along the way. I didn't know the couple personally, but I drove by these two every day on my way to school and admired their love and dedication to each other during their walks and life. Sunday morning, these two people lost their lives at 6:15 am at the hands of a suspected underage drunken driver. The only thing that settles my heart a little is that they are now resting together, and I'm sure they wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Valley Center won't be the same without these two.         

Photo Credit: Kendra Cunningham, pulled from UTSanDiego 

Statistic: Every day in America, 27 people die as a result of drunk driving crashes.

I've never been one to test the odds of drinking and driving, but commercials like the ones below have definitely scared me straight as far as driving distracted:

It can wait. 

Send your "on my way" text right before you leave.

If you MUST text or take a call, save it until the next red light you encounter.

Statistic: In 2011, 9,878 people died in drunk driving crashes - one every 53 minutes.

Belgium texting & driving test.

Don't text and drive. 

Don't Facebook and drive. 

Don't Snapchat and drive. 

Don't Instagram and drive. 

Don't Vine and drive.

Don't Pandora/iTunes/shuffle your music player and drive. 

Don't drink and drive.

Statistic: In 2010, 3,092 people were killed in crashes involving a distracted driver.

It seems like such trivial and silly advice, but so necessary considering I have plenty of friends who do a combination of 2 or more of the above on the regular.

I've mentioned it before on Facebook, but this time I'm serious. Doing all this social media crap while driving is not worth losing a life. I don't get how so many people don't understand that.  

Statistic: Texting while driving is the equivalent to consuming 4 beers and driving.

People are probably reading through this wondering "what credibility does this chick have?!!" Her blog/nick name is Marty with the PARTY! I'll be the first to say it...I have no credibility. I'm not an expert on any of this, just someone who has had an "aha!" moment. I'm not going to lie, I enjoy a good margarita on the rocks, and Fireball makes me feel warm and fuzzy, but I do my best to watch what I drink and the amount of alcohol I consume so I am okay to drive home safe at the end of the night. Recently, I've been very conscious of driving distracted and think twice before sending out a quick text. I like to think of myself as a responsible driver, and hopefully some of my best friends will vouch on my behalf.

Seriously, don't be dumb. Driving distracted, drunk, under the influence isn't worth a lost life. Learn more at itcanwait.com.

The stats mentioned above were pulled from madd.org, cdc.org, and fcc.org. and textfreedriving.org. I own none of the content or images used from other sources, and were only used on this blog for informational purposes.