Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY -- A "near miss" in Provo Tuesday could have ended in tragedy for a young family and a driver who looked down for just a second. It serves as the best reminder not to use our cell phones while driving.
Related:
Driver distracted by cell phone hits young girls
Two young girls escaped serious injury Tuesday after their stroller was hit by a driver who admits he was distracted by his cell phone.It's a lesson learned the hard way for that driver. Hopefully, the rest of us can follow his lead and hang up and drive.
The University of Utah tells KSL News over the past 20 years, there's been a 60 percent decline in drunk driving fatalities for teenagers. But at the same time, 30 percent more teens are dying while driving distracted.
"Now we are losing more teenagers to distracted driving than to drunk driving," says David Strayer, professor of psychology at the University of Utah.
With eye-opening statistics like that in mind, it's so important for parents to lead the way and learn to put down their cell phones. Last fall, KSL asked a group of eight busy moms to do just that and go "cold turkey" for one week.
"It's going to be tempting, but I'm going to do it," Jodi Jones said.
It was a challenge for all of them, but each came up with their own unique way to keep their phones off.
"Putting it in my purse," Lynda Barton said.
Shelly Bailey told us, "I'm going to put it in my wallet and under my seat, right here."
I still had every minute of my day, and I still got everything done. I wasn't saving any time by using [my cell phone] in my car." - Janalee Jones
"I have a big sign that I made that's in front of my steering wheel that says: ‘No cell phone,'" Michelle Gibby said.
Some of the moms admittedly slipped up a couple times, and they even missed a few important appointments. But by the end of the week, each came away with a similar experience.
"The best part was I realized I don't have to be attached to my phone," Marty Arnold said.
"Just being more aware of how much I really do use the phone," Kris Brant said.
"I still had every minute of my day, and I still got everything done," Janalee Jones says. "I wasn't saving any time by using it in my car."
"Once I wasn't so tethered to that stupid phone, it felt really great," Shauni Snow said.
We checked back with some of our "Cell Phone Moms" Tuesday night to see how they've done since our story first aired. All say they continue to cutback and some still use the tricks they learned.
To Stay Safe, we challenge everyone to take the cell phone challenge. CLICK HERE for a link.
E-mail: dwimmer@ksl.com
