Put Your Phone in Your Backpack

Put Your Phone in Your Backpack

By Maxwell Kearney

“Put your phone in your backpack,” my father used to say. When I was learning to drive, we did all the normal things parents do with their kids. I learned how to get into the car and put on my seatbelt. I learned how to adjust my mirrors, how to start the car, and how to use the lights and signals. I tried to drive around the empty parking lot smoothly as I learned, but I still made my father a little carsick. I also learned that distracted driving is a major cause of car crashes, for both teens and adults. Every day, 1000 crashes are caused by distracted drivers, and every day nine people are killed in those crashes.

“Put your phone in your backpack,” needs to become a National slogan. It should be on t-shirts, and billboards, and those roadside alerts we see on the freeway. If we started an education program that taught drivers to put their cell phones away when they drove, distracted driving accidents would be cut in half. Fewer people would crash and fewer people would die. My father always said that if I put my phone in my backpack, zipped it up, and put the backpack in the backseat, then I wouldn’t be tempted to pick it up while I was driving. It’s such a simple idea, and it works.

“Put your phone in your backpack,” is exactly what drivers of all ages need to hear. We all love the convenience of our cell phones, but we have become too reliant on the instant gratification we receive from social media and texting and music at our fingertips. None of those things are worth getting into a car crash over. Some people climb into their cars and feel invincible. They are surrounded by steel and hard glass, and the car weighs thousands of pounds. I have never been in an accident, but I have seen what happens to cars when they crash. My father is a policeman and he took me to the impound yard. When cars crash, they twist, and rip, and tear like they are made of paper. I could only wonder what happened to the driver in those terrifying moments when thousands of pounds of metal were destroyed in an instant.

“Put your phone in your backpack,” isn’t just for drivers. When I climb into a car as a passenger, I always look at the driver and think those words in my head. If I am riding with a friend and they pick up their phone, I say those words out loud, “Dude…put your phone in your backpack!” I say it because I don’t want to be in an accident and I don’t want my friend to be in an accident either. Peer pressure is a powerful and wonderful tool if we use it properly. It can deliver a message without judging or being rude. It can save lives if we just have the courage to speak up and say:

“Put your phone in your backpack!”